Full Circle

It was almost December before she finally decided that she needed to tell someone. She had kept her suspicions to herself for months now, but at this point there was just no denying the truth. The signs were all there. So one day she decided to talk with him, inform him of the situation that he was ultimately responsible for and see what he had to say about it...

He received an owl that morning over breakfast by an unknown sender, requesting that he meet in the History of Magic classroom at exactly 11:45 that evening. If the boy was suspicious about this letter, he did not reveal these feelings to anyone over the course of the day. Even as he was silently getting dressed while the other members of his house slept, the only worry on his mind was the idea of being caught out of bed after hours. He did not want to tarnish his reputation as a house prefect, though he was sure he could use his position to justify as an appropriate excuse.

The corridors were deadly quiet at that time of day. Even Filch and Mrs. Norris, who were infamous for stalking the hallways of Hogwarts during the night, were no where to be found. "This is almost too easy," he thought to himself as he climbed up the staircase to the third floor. Stealthily, he crept along the shadows on the walls until he arrived at the correct classroom and ducked inside.

While his eyes were still adjusting variance of light in the room created by the tall windows, he did not see her immediately. She was sitting at Professor Binn's desk, her face half hidden by an emerald cloak. The boy nearly jumped out of his skin when her voice notified him of her presence.

"I'm glad you come here tonight," she said in an almost whisper.

His face broke out in a smile when he realized who had invited him to this midnight conference. "Fancy meeting up with you again," he devilishly replied. "What can I help you with this evening?"

"Cut the crap, Malfoy. I have something serious I need to talk with you about."

Annoyed at her rebuttal, he sighed. "I don't see what important issues we would need to discuss in an empty classroom in the middle of the night. I returned your stupid diary as promised - months ago, in fact! Our business together is done!"

She stood up in an effort to look the blond hair boy in the eyes. "That is where you are very wrong, Draco. It seems that you, unfortunately with my help..." she paused, desperately trying to regain composure "...together we've created a situation of sorts. Something that could prove to be devastating for many people if it becomes public knowledge..."

He ran his fingers through his hair angrily. "Damn it, Weasley - get to the point!"

Ginny took a breath and finally confessed the secret that she had been keeping to herself for so long. "I think Hermione Granger is pregnant!"

Nothing could have prepared Malfoy for this discovery, but the expression on his face hid it well. Calmly he asked, "How do you know that? Has she told you?"

She looked around the empty classroom to assure herself that they were truly alone before she continued. "No, not in those words, exactly. But I've read about the symptoms and she has all of them."

Malfoy sat down in an empty chair across from her - the wheels in his head obviously turning, processing the new information. Ginny stared at Malfoy almost disbelieving. Could he possibly be showing concern for the situation? Would he finally admit that he had taken this prank just a little too far?

Suddenly he glanced up and looked Ginny in the eye as an evil smirk spread across his face. His partner's own smile faded considerably as he emitted a twisted snicker before it grew into a full fledge laugh. "Who would have guessed it would work so well?" he asked himself, shaking his head.

Ginny clenched her fists furiously at her sides. "Well? Well?" she practically screamed, forgetting that they were in the History of Magic classroom after hours. "You think this is funny, Malfoy? Don't you realize how serious this situation is? Hermione is Head Girl. This could ruin her-".

"Reputation? Damn, I never even considered that when I put this plan into place. An added benefit, I must say." He leaned back in the chair, feeling terribly giddy.

At this point, Ginny lunges forward and grabs Malfoy by his shirt collar, her face so close to his that they almost touched. "How did this happen, Malfoy?" she asked, lividly.

The pressure against his throat produced a gurgled laugh. "The usual way, I suppose. Hasn't Madame Pomfrey taught you about these things yet?" Her fingernails began to dig into the skin around his neck. Somewhat panicked, he said "Woah, Weasley. Hell of a temper you have. Must be the hair. Let me go and perhaps I'll explain it to you in simple terms." Ginny debated his request for a moment before releasing him from her grasp and sitting down across from him again, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

Once Malfoy composed himself, he agreed to enlighten her on the situation. "Eroticus potion. Simple to make, really, but I think I added too much Kava Kava root."

"Eroticus? You told me we'd be using Amourous potion! You said it would be harmless!" Her copper colored locks revealed themselves from under her disheveled hood. "I would have never agreed to this stunt, if I knew what you were intending to do."

"Agreed? You act like you had a choice in the matter," he muttered. "You were merely a well-placed pawn in the situation. You did exactly what I told you to do because you had no other alternative." She sat quietly, her hands holding her head, her elbows steadied on her knees.

"You never really explained your motive, Malfoy."

He scoffed at her. "What makes you think you have the right to know what makes my mind tick?"

Ginny stared at him fiercely. "Because I helped you, regardless of the reason, and I want to know why we did this. They are my friends, Malfoy, and I've betrayed them."

"And how will they ever know that, Weasley? I set up the scenario perfectly so that know one would be able to trace it back to me...us." He was silent for a moment, contemplating whether he should continue.

"Well, if you must know I've never liked those stupid friends of yours. The infamous Gryffindor trio - give me a break. Nothing but a bunch a freaks in my opinion!"

Ginny looked like her head was going to explode. "Malfoy, remember who you're talking to here.

"Ok, ok. But I thought you wanted to hear the truth." She glowered at him, but he continued. "I'm sure you also know that I'm captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team and since this would be my seventh and last year at Hogwarts, I wanted to find a way to guarantee that Slytherin would be able to win the Quidditch cup. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are hardly even competitors - I knew my real challenge would be beating Gryffindor. It just so happened that two of the people I disliked the most were players on that team. So after debating for several months, I came up with the ultimate plan to create a riff between Potter and Weasley. I remembered how much your brother still had a thing for that mudblood-".

"Keep the derogatory terms to a minimum," Ginny hissed at him.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Red. As I was saying, I decided that the best way to ruin their friendship was to create a situation where Weasley would walk in Potter trying to steal his girl. Creating a potion to make the two of them lust after each other was easy - just create an eroticus potion using Kava Kava root - a Polynesian herb that is a natural aphrodisiac. The problem lied in how to distribute the potion. I needed to find a time when all three of them would be together as well as a naïve individual to help them to drink it."

Color rose into Ginny's cheeks. "So I was in the library last June, studying for final exams when I happened across a leather bound diary with the initials "V.A.W" etched on the front, which someone had carelessly left behind. Snatching it up, I realized how easy it would be to blackmail a certain Virginia Anne Weasley to do the dirty work for me." He smiled at her. "You know what they say, Wealsey? Learn from history or else you are doomed to repeat it. One would think after that incident during your first year that you'd be smart enough not to keep any more diaries."

Ginny averted her gaze and stared helplessly out the classroom windows. How could she have been so stupid, she asked herself. Once Malfoy ad the diary in his possession, she knew she would have to do whatever it took to keep him from airing her dirty laundry for everyone in Hogwarts to discover. Even if it potentially meant putting her friends in an awkward position.

"So I agreed to help you," she replied, numbly. "I figured the best time to give them the potion would be on Harry's birthday, since all four of us were invited to spend the night as Sirius's house. I hid that soap in a box at the very top of the hallway closet, designed to fall on Hermione when she reached to get it. The headache that would result would be a perfect reason to give her my homemade "pain reliever" potion. That was the simple part. Then while Hermione was resting, I waited until Sirius had gone to bed before putting a sleeping charm on Ron, used his hair to complete a Polyjuice potion and arrived on the back patio with tainted wizard ale looking just like Harry's best friend."

"The plan seemed faultless," said Malfoy. "Where did you go wrong?"

Ginny sighed. "Well, it took me almost an hour to get Harry to drink three bottles of potion laced ale, and by that point the Polyjuice potion was starting to wear off. Luckily, he was feeling buzzed because of the alcohol and didn't object to me heading back inside the house. I ran upstairs to check on Hermione - but she was still asleep! No matter how hard I tired to shake her, she wouldn't wake up. You told me once the potion took effect, sleeping would be the last thing on her mind."

"Damn mudblood. Must be a slightly different body chemical composition."

Ignoring the insult, Ginny continued. "I was afraid the amorous potion had worn off, so I opened Hermione's mouth and forced her to swallow a few more spoonfuls. Then I lied down in the bed and waited for her to wake up."

"Let me guess," Malfoy rolled his eyes. "You feel asleep."

"It was late, Malfoy, and I was tired. I'm sorry if I'm not used to exerting so much energy plotting against others." She glared at him, but he said nothing. "Anyway, I must have been dead to the world when Hermione had finally gotten up, so there was no way I could have released Ron from his sleeping charm in order for your plan to work. By the time I had woken up, all hell had broken loose. We had just received an owl informing us of Professor Dumbledore's death and a week later, Harry was shipped off to the order. No one had a chance to discuss the events of that evening. In fact, I had almost put the whole thing out of my mind until I noticed how strangely Hermione was acting. That's when I started to get worried that things might have gone a bit further than we had anticipated." Ginny leaned back in her chair wearily. It was the first time in four months that she had been able to talk about what she had done the night of Harry's birthday, and despite the fact that Malfoy was her only confidante, she felt somewhat relieved.

The two of them sat together in silence for a few minutes. It was past midnight at this point and Hogwarts was eerily quiet. Outside the large windows, tiny speckles of the season's first snowfall spiraled down from the sky, but had not yet begun to collect on the frozen ground. The trees were bare, their skeleton branches shivering in the cold. Ginny pulled her cloak tighter around her.

She looked at Malfoy inquiring, "So what are we going to do now?"

His icy gray eyes stared back at her suspiciously. "What do you mean - what are we going to do now? I'm not doing a damn thing except bask in the glory of this recent turn of events."

Ginny face grew as pale and cold as his eyes. "You sadistic bastard," she spoke, her words barely audible, her voice monotone. "I knew you were bad, Malfoy, but not until this moment did I realize how truly twisted you are." Since, she knew there was no sense in saying anything else to him - that her speech would only fall on deaf ears, she swiftly turned to walk out of the room.

For a moment, Malfoy just sat there in the empty classroom biding his time. He did not wish to be caught wandering the halls at night with Ginny Weasley. Imagine what people would assume, he thought to himself. Finally he stood up, returned his chair to its originally place and was heading back to his dormitory when he heard a familiar voice.

"So what is this 'recent turn of events' that you seem so pleased with yourself about?" There in the door way of the classroom was the imposing figure of Lucius Malfoy.

The heart of his seventeen year old son skipped a beat. "Father...um....what brings you to Hogwarts...so late at night?"

Lucius smiled in a way that would make a person's skin crawl right off the bones. "Never mind your father's business, Draco. Consider my presence here a visit to catch up with my only son who I haven't been able to see since school started. So go ahead and enlighten me about the conversation you had with the angry young women who just stalked out of here."

Was his father aware of whom the girl had been? Certainly he would not be pleased to know his son was talking with a Weasley. But he knew of one thing that would definitely make Lucius very proud. "Well, father, I just found out that a certain Hogwarts Head Girl is pregnant."

The senior Malfoy raised his eyebrows as he tired to remember who was currently holding that position. "Is it that foul mudblood, Granger?"

Draco could hardly hold in his excitement. "Yes, that's her and you'll never guess who fathered the child!"

"Probably one of those damn Weasley children. That disgusting family breeds like rabbits; I'm surprised one of those boys hadn't knocked up someone before now."

Giddy like a child in Honeydukes, Draco grinned. "No sir. It wasn't a Weasley. Harry Potter is the baby's father." Not waiting for Lucius to respond, he then blurted out, "And I'm the one responsible for it! Of course, I didn't plan for Potter to get Granger pregnant, I just wanted them to snog so that Weasley would catch them. You see, I knew that that would cause a riff between the two of them and ultimately weaken the Gryffindor team. Slytherin would be guaranteed to win the Quidditch cup this year! So, anyway, I created this eroticus potion that made them go wild for each other and it must have worked a little too well, because now Granger's pregnant. I've managed to ruin to lives of both Hogwart's Head Girl and the amazing Harry Potter and no one will ever know that I am to blame!" Draco was so busy rambling on about his achievement that he didn't see the hard metal bulb at the top of his father's cane come crashing into the side of his head, knocking him to the floor. The boy knelt at the feet of his father, his hands clasped to his ears as the blood began to trickle down his cheek.

Lucius hissed. "How can you be so stupid, boy? Do you realize the seriousness of your infantile actions? And you consider yourself to be a Malfoy?"

Draco lifted up his head slowly to look at his father. His face was strained, but he was did not cry. "But father, I assumed you would be proud."

The elder Malfoy's face was seared with anger. "Proud of what?" He stared at his child in disbelief. "Oh, I see. You think that it would be wonderful for me to meet with the Dark Lord to inform him that it was my son, Draco, who helped created an heir of Harry Potter - the one person that almost destroyed our great master. Do you understand what a horrible thing you've done, you miserable little twit? Your own petty attempts at revenge have managed to create what could potentially be one of the most devastating events to happen to our community. The Dark Lord will be furious!"

The blond haired boy removed his hand from the side of his face and stared at it blankly, watching the blood dry brown on his skin. His face was paler than usual; his lips were almost purplish from shock. Thoughts swirled chaotically in his mind. This had not been the first time that Lucius had ever hit his son. Hardly. Sometimes he used physical force; other times he used painful spells to get his point across. But for some reason it was different this time. Draco felt a silent madness flow through him. His breath was shallow and his body tensed as he quietly said, "I frankly don't care what the Dark Lord thinks..."

He hunched down to prepare himself for another blow, this time perhaps to the other side of his head to even out the pain, but nothing happened. Slowly he looked up to see his father breath a single word "SILEO!" Draco was confused. Instead of violence, Lucius had merely placed him under a silencing charm. But it was the additional spell that followed that explained the need for quiet.

"CRUCIO!" The elder Malfoy said through gritted teeth. He watched his son sink to the ground, his body shaking violently, but Draco was no longer even aware of his father's presence. He was blinded by the intense pain - the feeling of tearing muscles, breaking bones, burning flesh. All around him it was dark and it felt like the walls were closing in on him, stealing his breath. It was not unusual for a Death Eater like Lucius to use an Unforgivable Curse on a victim if need be, but to be angered enough to administer it to his own son...

After several minutes, Lucius released Draco from his personal hell. The boy lay barely conscious on the floor of the History of Magic classroom. His father leaned down and whispered into his son's ear. "That will teach you to disrespect the Dark Lord." He stared at Draco's lifeless body for a moment before exiting.

As Malfoy slowly returned to his senses, he was panicked when he realized that he couldn't move. He shivered and squeezed his eyes closed in an effort to block out the reality of the situation. Why had he said such things to his father? He knew even as the words came out of his mouth that he was going to be in trouble. But never in his wildest nightmares had he envisioned a punishment like that. When he opened his eyes, he discovered that he was not alone in this self-created dungeon. Ginny was kneeling beside him, a look of sheer distress on her face.

He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"I saw what happened. I was halfway back to Gryffindor tower when I realized that I was too angry not to ream you out for being such a monster. But when I got to the doorway, I saw your father yelling at you and then..." She stopped, not knowing what else to say. Malfoy looked up at her, feeling quite embarrassed. Of all the people to accidentally catch his father punishing him - it had to be a Weasley. He tried to move, to stand up and brush himself off, act like this was nothing - but he couldn't budge.

"I'm really sorry, Malfoy. I didn't know about your father. I mean, I guess no one knows." Ginny had almost been sick as she watched Draco writhe in agony on the floor. As she was returning to the classroom, she had been silently hoping that something horrible would happen to Malfoy for being such a snake. But once she arrived and saw his own father place the unforgivable cruciatus curse on him, she was pained with unbelievable guilt. Not even Malfoy deserved such torture.

He closed his eyes and tried to turn his face way from her. He didn't think the situation could have gotten worse. Ginny reached into the pocket of her robes and pulled out her handkerchief, dabbing it on the blood that was still oozing from the wound on the side of Malfoy's head. He tried to resist her touch, but it was difficult since he was still in the process of regaining sensation in his body.

"This looks bad. I should really take you to Madame Pomfrey."

"No!" He croaked, his voice pinched in his throat.

Then Ginny realized all the questions that would arise if she levitated Malfoy's bruised body to the hospital wing - inquiries that he would most likely not want to answer. Should she follow her instinct with respect to his injuries or should she keep quiet in order to protect his pride? Beneath her hands, she could feel him shudder slightly. His eyes were still closed, but there was an unexpected hot dampness to his cheeks which made her heart lurch. She made herself comfortable beside him and carefully lifted up his head and placed it on her lap. He made no attempt to resist her actions, having lost all of his strength in the battle. Ginny ran her fingers throw his hair, trying to calm his turmoil, giving him an outlet for all the pain that he had buried inside himself for so long. Eventually, Malfoy found the gentle peace of sleep, curled up the arms of the most unexpected company.