Old Parchment and Green Ink

Old Parchment & Green Ink

by lelalee83

Chapter Three: The Forbidden Forest

*****

As they headed cautiously towards the concealing green foliage of the Forbidden Forest, Ginny couldn't help but think of her strange dream from the night before. She couldn't remember most of it, but she did recall the part with the hooded young man quite vividly. Was it some sort of warning, telling her not to go into a forest or someone would ravish her in a grove of roses?

And that wasn't the only thing she had to worry about; this was the Forbidden Forest, and for several good reasons. "Malfoy," she began, clutching a handful of his black cloak to stop him, "there are...creatures in there."

Draco stopped and turned around to stare at Ginny. They were on the edge of the forest, blending in with the wavering shadows, one step from disappearing into its waiting arms. "We have two choices, Weasley. Either we stay back there and you get kidnapped while I may get myself killed, or we go into the forest where we both may get ourselves killed. There's no sense in doing it half-way, now is there?"

Ginny frowned and said, in a tone that meant she thought it the most obvious thing to do, "We could go to the castle and ask an adult for help."

Laughing softly, while jerking his cloak out of Ginny's grasp, Draco said, "And explain to them how we ended up fifty-two years behind where we should be, while trying to convince them we're not practitioners of Dark magic?" He began walking again, and Ginny hesitantly followed. "They'll never believe two teenagers could travel that far any other way. Unlike you, obviously, I listen in History of Magic. The Time-Turner wasn't invented until 1946, so it will be hard to convince them of something they've never even heard of. Oh, better yet, you could explain to them how a Time-Turner came to be in your possession in the first place, because it wasn't even yours was it? You stole it didn't you?"

Ginny shoved roughly past Draco, making sure she hit him hard with her shoulder. "That's none of your business."

"Are you mad? Of course it's my business! I'm here too, aren't I?"

"Well, you didn't have to come after me! Why did you anyway?"

Draco smirked at Ginny, and she had to fight the urge to poke her wand as hard as she could into his face. "You're right. I didn't have to come after you. But I did, because I wanted to help you, and now I'm seriously regretting it." He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the forest, keeping her close by his side as they walked.

"Let go of me, Malfoy! You don't have to lead me around like a child!" She tried to pull her hand away.

Draco tightened his grip. "I disagree. If you're going to act like a child, then I'll treat you like one. Besides, we need to stay together for our own safety."

Ginny didn't like this, being so close to Draco Malfoy. She could hear the chirping of insects and far-off twitter of birds, but she could hear him breathing too. For some reason, it unnerved her. Their bodies were pressed together; shoulders and elbows like a mirror image of the other. His hand was warm and damp with sweat on her wrist, but the grip was strong.

They made slow progress through the thick clot of trees and underbrush, both holding their wands ready in their free hands. Most of the moonlight did not permeate the dense canopy above, so Draco's wand was lit, illuminating their path with a soft, phosphorescent glow. It seemed that hours had passed.

"We'll stop here," Draco said, releasing Ginny's wrist and taking off his cloak.

Despite the fact that she was dead tired, barely able to keep her eyes fully open, Ginny protested. "We can't!"

Draco busied himself with spreading out his cloak on a patch of leaves. "We need to rest, Weasley. Exhaustion won't get us far."

Ginny grudgingly realised he had a point. She couldn't walk straight, think straight, or see straight. Rest was what she needed. "Alright," she said with a defeated sigh, and began to gather a pile of leaves for her bed, as far away from Malfoy as she could get.

"What are you doing?"

Ginny looked up, an expression of annoyance on her face. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm making my bed!"

"You're not sleeping all the way over there." Draco patted the ground beside him. "We have to stay close, remember?"

"What?! I am not...there is no way..."

Draco stared at her for a moment, and then he stood up. He strode towards Ginny. She stared at him defiantly. He grabbed her, throwing a hand over her mouth to quiet her indignant protests as he dragged her struggling form, and then plopped her down on his cloak. "Don't move," he said.

Ginny watched, glaring angrily, as Draco sat down beside her, and then spread out on his back. He tucked his wand into the waistband of his trousers and crossed his arms over his chest. "Lie down," he said, and Ginny, too tired to protest anymore, did.

She did not like being this close to Draco Malfoy at all.

*****

"Professor, why do we have to go after them? Wouldn’t it be safer if you went? Or someone else?"

Dumbledore looked at Hermione. "I should think that the answers to your questions are quite obvious. Hogwarts cannot spare me, and neither can it spare any of its professors. Certainly none of the Order members can be spared either."

"Yes, but-"

"And would you really rather send someone else to rescue your friends?" Dumbledore continued, raising his thick, snowy eyebrows until they disappeared beneath the matching tuft of hair sticking out from beneath his hat.

Ron shook his head vehemently.

"Don't you mean, 'friend,' Professor?" said Harry.

"You four are more than qualified to undertake such a task, are you not?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then it's settled. You all have one hour to pack. I will be waiting at the top of the North Tower."

Ron was the first out of the Headmaster's office.

Harry and Hermione slowly stood up, both still processing the task that lay ahead.

"Oh, don't look so worried you two," said Luna brightly. "This'll be fun!"

*****

Tom Riddle was very angry. The girl had managed to stun him and escape. No one had ever bested him. No one. He would hunt her down and then, slowly, he would bleed the life from her body. The thought brought a malicious smile to his face.

She had used a surprisingly strong Stunning Hex on him; he had been out for at least two hours. Fear was one of the few emotions that intensified the power of a spell, and Tom wondered why, even when he had journeyed through the portal and first saw her, the girl had behaved as though she knew who he really was. She had been enormously afraid of him.

When he had awakened, the sky was already dark and spattered with glittering stars. It wouldn't have been too hard, tracking her down at night, but Professor Dumbledore, the Transfiguration teacher, had prevented him from doing so.

"What are you doing out, Tom? It's almost curfew."

He had spun around, his face completely blank, and quickly replied, "I only needed a little fresh air, Professor. I must've lost track of time."

"Yes," was Dumbledore's response, as he twirled his long fingers in his auburn beard and stared hard at Tom. "Hurry inside now before Mr. Filch catches you."

Tom had had no choice but to turn his back on the forest, and the girl that he would eventually murder. No matter. This was his last night in the castle. There was no one to miss him afterwards.

He clutched the girl's muddy, torn cloak tighter in his fist. Tomorrow, the pursuit would begin.

*****

Ginny awoke from a dreamless sleep to a series of sharp jabs in her back, and a very annoying voice grating on her ears. Go away, she thought. Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?

"Weasley! Wake up! Weasley!"

Ginny opened her eyes. It was still dark out. She closed them again and rolled away from the jabs, intent on sleeping a little more, right onto a large, hard rock. "Ow!"

"Get up! We have to get moving," said Draco as he shook out his cloak, scattering dirt and bits of crumbled leaves in her direction.

She sat up groggily, rubbing her sore head. "How long did we sleep?"

"You slept no more than four hours," replied Draco, his attention still focused on removing dirt and leaves from his clothing. "It'll be light soon, so we had better cover more ground before then."

Standing up and dusting off her own clothes Ginny said, "What do you mean I slept no more than four hours? Didn't you sleep any?"

"Well, that would've been asking to get ourselves killed, now wouldn't it?" he replied as he gently removed tangles from his hair with his fingers. "Someone had to stay awake and play guard."

"Oh," said Ginny. She suddenly wondered if Malfoy had stared into the darkness all that time, or if he had, for a second, watched her sleeping. The thought made her shiver with disgust. She looked up to see Malfoy staring blankly at her. "What?" she snapped.

He threw the cloak they had slept on at her and turned away. "Let's go."

*****

"What does one pack when they're taking a trip fifty-two years into the past to rescue someone?" asked Harry, stuffing random articles of clothing into a bag. "Do you reckon I'll need my toothbrush?"

Ron threw a handful of dirty underwear at his friend. "You think this is amusing then, do you? My sister has been kidnapped by Draco My-Dad-is-a-Death-Eater Malfoy and dragged into the past, with who knows what sort of Dark magic! He's taken her who knows where, doing I don't want to know what to her, and all you can do is make jokes?"

"I'm sorry," Harry replied, retrieving his bag from beneath the dirty underwear and shoving his Invisibility Cloak into it. "This is just...it's strange, you know? I don't know what to expect once we get there, or how long we'll be gone." He sighed. "It's like we know where we're going, but we don't know where we're going."

"I know how you feel, mate. I'm worried too," replied Ron as he sat down on the edge of his bed, "but I'm more worried about Ginny. Besides, we'll be together, you, Hermione and me. We've always gotten through tough spots together before, haven't we?"

Harry smiled slightly. "Yeah, we have."

"Actually, I have only one major question to ask Dumbledore before he sends us on our way."

"What's that?"

Ron forced a sort of pained smile. "Why the hell is Luna going?"

*****

Ginny stopped. She had spotted an enticing bunch of purple berries on a bush. Her stomach had been rumbling for a little over an hour now, and the feeling of gnawing emptiness had become unbearable. She began to pick the berries and deposit them in the pocket of Draco's over-sized cloak, intent on having something to munch on as she walked.

"Weasley! Where are you?"

Ginny snatched as many more berries as she could before turning to catch up. She pushed through a thick clot of hanging vines as she jogged and fell, tripping over an upturned root. Luckily, there was something there to break her fall.

"Get off me!"

Maybe not so luckily.

Draco shoved her off him, hard. He stood up and began to vigorously dust his clothes off. "What were you doing back there?" Ginny thought he almost sounded worried.

"Afraid to be here alone, Malfoy?" she replied from her position on the ground, raising her eyebrows at him. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were."

Draco glared at her, and then turned and began striding away through the bushes. Ginny pushed herself to her feet and followed. She felt the berries in the cloak's pocket soaking into her clothing. Damn! So much for having something to snack on! She glanced up at Draco, and had to stuff her fist in her mouth to keep from laughing; there were blotchy purple stains on the back of his white shirt.

A few minutes later, Ginny couldn't stand it anymore. "I'm hungry."

For a moment Draco said nothing. He simply kept walking.

"Didn't you hear me?" said Ginny. "I'm-"

"I heard you! And don't you think I am too?" Draco replied angrily, turning around to face her. And then his grey eyes narrowed into slits. "What is that?" he said with obvious forced calm.

Ginny stared at him, fear welling up in her chest. Had he seen or heard something? "W-what?" she whispered.

Draco pointed at her, his face unreadable, and then she realised he was pointing at the pocket of the cloak she was wearing. His cloak. With the great, wet stain on it. Dripping purple juice. "What is that?" he repeated. He took a few steps towards her, reached into the pocket, and pulled out a handful of purple mush. He looked at her with an expression of alarm.

"It was...um...berries," she finished lamely, giving him a small smile. It slid from her face when his expression did not change.

"Did you eat any of them?" He was now closely examining her face.

"No,” she said, beginning to feel very annoyed. “They were squashed when I tripped and fell." Ginny intentionally left out the part about falling on him. "I swear I didn't, although I am starving to death." He was too close; she could see a tiny freckle positioned on the very tip of his nose.

Draco stepped away from her, letting out a long breath, and Ginny wondered if it was a relieved one. "Well, if you'd eaten those you would no longer be starving, but you would be dead."

Ginny's stomach seemed to turn over, and her mouth fell open in horror. "They were poisonous?" she said. Oh, why had she not paid more attention in Professor Sprout's lessons? She suddenly felt very dizzy. "I didn't know!"

Draco reached out and took her by the arm. "You're alright. You didn't eat any of them. It's a good thing you're so clumsy then, isn't it?" He forced a laugh.

Ginny looked into his face. "You are afraid to be here alone." It wasn't a question or a taunt this time. She could see the answer in his eyes. "So am I."

*****

Harry, Hermione and Luna followed Ron up to the North Tower: Professor Trelawney's classroom. Harry vaguely wondered why Dumbledore wanted them to meet there.

When they finally reached the top of the long, winding staircase the trap door was already open and the silver ladder was waiting for them. Ron climbed up it without hesitation, and the others did the same. As Harry's head poked up through the trapdoor, a wave of intensely perfumed heat seemed to try and suffocate him. He blinked his watering eyes and pulled himself into the room behind Hermione.

"Are you all ready to go?" came a voice from the misty corner, and they turned around to see Dumbledore standing half-concealed in the shadows, his spectacles flashing merrily at them. Professor Trelawney was right beside him, drawing her shawl about herself in what she seemed to think was a mysterious manner.

"Yes, yes, we're ready," replied Ron quickly, adjusting the pack he had slung over his shoulder. Harry wondered if Ron had noticed what he was packing, or had just stuffed the bag full of the dirty underwear he hadn't thrown.

"Very well, but I have a few things I'd like to say, and then I have something to give each of you individually." Dumbledore walked towards one of the tables and took a seat. When no one else moved so much as an inch, he smilingly motioned for them to all be seated as well.

"Now," he continued, after everyone was settled, "you all know that the year you are travelling to is 1945." He looked around at them all, as though he was waiting for questions. When there were none he continued on. "Incidentally, there are a few things you need to be aware of, student-wise and historically."

"That's the year you defeated the Dark wizard Grindelwald," said Luna. Harry couldn't believe how calm she appeared, as though they were all simply sitting down to tea and discussing the weather.

"Correct," replied Dumbledore, smiling at her. "But, you needn't worry about that."

"Oh!" said Hermione, clapping a hand over her mouth.

Dumbledore's expression became grim as he nodded. "I believe Miss Granger has realised what I mean."

"What?" said Harry, as Hermione looked at him. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Harry," she said, "Tom Riddle graduated Hogwarts in 1945. While we're there-"

Harry sighed. "We might run into him." As if the situation wasn't bad enough already.

"There is a chance you might, but remember, he disappeared soon after graduating, and didn't resurface until several years later," Dumbledore said, smoothing a few wrinkles out of the front of his royal blue robes. "Even if you did meet him, he wouldn't know who you were, but I still would like you to be cautious."

"Who is Tom Riddle?" asked Luna.

"We'll tell you later," answered Hermione, still watching Harry. He could feel her eyes on him, but refused to look at her.

"That Muggle war had just ended too," said Luna, straightening in her seat. "War of the Worlds II, or something. The Wizarding World was still suffering from fear of exposure."

Dumbledore nodded. "Anti-Muggle precautions were extremely high during that time, and the magical community was very paranoid. There was a law against the use of magic outside one's own home, except on rare occasions, so I would advise you all to be extremely watchful."

"Are we through with the history lesson?" said Ron, impatiently tapping his fingers on the table. "I mean, I know we have all the time in the world, but it‘s my sister that’s been kidnapped, and I‘m ready to leave now."

"Yes, we're quite done with the history lesson," replied Dumbledore, smiling.

Ron let out a sigh of relief.

"On to other business." Dumbledore adjusted his spectacles, and then continued. "I had a bit of a run in with Miss Weasley and Mr. Malfoy on July the fifth in Diagon Alley. I had no idea who they were at the time, and they didn't remain in my company for long, but I was under the impression that they had been there for a few days at least. So, I will be sending you to the morning of July first. That way, you may all board the train from Hogwarts to London and continue your search from there."

"Lastly, I have something I would like to give each of you. It shouldn't take long," he added to Ron, who had opened his mouth in protest. Dumbledore then reached down beside his chair and picked up a purple silk bag, sticking his withered hand inside. Out came a small, hand-sized mirror. Its surface had smoky, blurred images reflected in it. "For you, Harry. A Foe Glass."

Next, he pulled out a beaten, leather bound book. "For Miss Granger, a very helpful object." Hermione took it.

"There's nothing in it," she said, leafing through it and looking confused.

"Think of the Room of Requirement. It supplies you with whatever it is you may need, and this book does the same. In it will appear the text of any book ever written."

Hermione stared down at the book, amazed, and smiled.

Next came a Sneakoscope for Ron, who snatched it quickly and stuffed it into his pocket.

Finally, out came a pack of cards for Luna. Harry realised that they were Tarot cards. Probably Trelawney's doing, he thought with a mental laugh.

"Now can we go?" said Ron, standing up. The others followed suit, slinging their bags over their shoulders and looking nervous, except Luna, who appeared as though she took impromptu trips into the past all the time.

Dumbledore stood up, pulling one last object from the purple bag. It was a Time-Turner, but different than the one Hermione had had in her third year. This one had three dials. On the outer dial were the numbers one to one hundred, the second dial bore the numbers one to thirty-one, and on the centre dial were the months of the year. "Here you are, Miss Granger. All you need to do is have a good grip on the chain when she turns it," he said to the others. "Good luck to you all."

Hermione took the Time-Turner with shaking hands and slipped it over her neck. Harry, Ron and Luna each grabbed the chain and held it tightly. After a moment of hesitation she turned the centre dial to the month of July, and the second to the number one, lining them up with the tiny golden indicator. Then she turned the outer one to the number '52.'

The world instantly disappeared around them.