Father's Minion

Chapter 4

Ginny didn't know if it was a dream or not, but she was in a room with dim lights, and Sirius Black was there huddled in a corner.

"Do you know the way back?" Sirius asked looking like a lost child. Ginny felt for him, but what was there to say?

"I'm afraid I don't...I don't know how I got here in the first place." Ginny looked around helplessly for some door, or a sign that there might be some hope. She didn't find one. Sirius let out an animal cry, causing Ginny to stumble back a few inches, she'd never seen him like this.

"Have you ever been left in darkness Ginny? For weeks at a time, complete and total darkness? Can you imagine how that feels?" Sirius questioned training his eyes on her. Ginny shuddered and nodded slowly.

"How could you possibly know?" Sirius spat at her. Ginny felt rage bubbling to the surface; how dare he question her when she was here, seeing him, looking at him, his only contact in months.

"Did anybody ever tell you about my first year at Hogwarts Sirius?" Ginny asked, her voice dropping to a whisper, she slowly made her way to the man in the corner. Sirius stared at her, realization dawning on him.

"I've seen and heard things, you probably know what I'm talking about, you having grown up in that horrible house." Ginny said. Sirius nodded slowly and his features seemed to soften, "I'm sorry Ginny--"

"Don't feel sorry for me, he only made me stronger," Ginny stated hastily, "Let's stick to the matter at hand shall we?" She continued her searching.

"How did you find me?"

"The mirror I think...that's the last thing I remember before all the darkness." She turned to look at him, "Does anything happen in the darkness Sirius? Have you been tortured...or just left to your own mind?"

"Left to my own mind, worst than the dementors if you ask me," Sirius said. Ginny nodded her head in understanding, she returned to the man and placed her hand on his shoulder, "We're going to find a way out of here. I can't let you go now." Sirius smiled at her, but it wasn't extremely convincing.

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Draco strode down the halls around curfew time, it was simple not to get caught, he'd just plea prefect duties. He pushed the great doors open leading outside and was met with slightly chilled air. It wasn't far enough along in the fall to be too cold. He strode purposefully toward the Quidditch pitch, then to the Slytherin changing rooms. He found his broom. There was no way he was going to just stride into the Forest and find the clearing; he wasn't barking mad, oh no, he was going to fly over.

Draco mounted his broom and slowly let himself glide upward, he still had some time to kill so he went towards the Quidditch pitch to practice his flying maneuvers. He let the cool air fill his lungs and he dove, dipped, swerved and managed other things. His mind was at ease in the air. That's the way he liked it.

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"I WANTED TO HEAR WHAT SIRUIS WAS SAYING!" Harry screamed at the room causing Ron and Hermione to flinch. Dumbledore sat in his chair, clearly unfazed by the outburst.

"Please, won't you sit down?" Dumbledore offered, motioning to three seats across from him. Ron and Hermione took their seats willingly, but Harry glared at Dumbledore.

"YOU TOLD ME HE WAS DEAD, YOU LIED TO ME--"

"Harry!" Hermione cried indignantly looking at him flabbergasted.

"Not to worry Miss Granger. You're right Harry, I told you he was dead, but that was only because I fully expected that he was in fact dead. The veil holds many mysteries, it is normal to assume that anyone who proceeds through it will in fact die, or be lost to this world," Dumbledore stated calmly motioning with his hands, "I was not informed however that you had a means of reaching him--"

"I don't."

"The mirror Harry, that was a link, a connection to Sirius--"

"He didn't have it with him when he went through the veil. I COULDN'T REACH HIM!" Harry fumed.

"Harry, you must calm down, or I'm not going to be able to explain this to you, I understand that you're upset--"

"That's an understatement," Ron said. Harry shot daggers at Ron causing him to sink lower in his seat to miss the crossfire.

"Sirius must have had the mirror with him--"

"Then why couldn't I contact him? I've tried."

"Because Ginny's a Seer," Hermione cut in softly, Ron and Harry looked at her as though she were mad; mainly because she'd been the first to denounce Trelawney as a fraud, though Harry knew now that wasn't entirely true.

"Twenty points to Gryffindor for your detective skills Miss Granger. So you've realized?" Dumbledore smiled.

"I did do, but I thought I was barmy for thinking so. Now I'm quite sure." Hermione said as though she were still talking to herself.

"That still doesn't explain anything...what does the fact that Ginny might be a Seer have to do with her being able to talk to Sirius?" Harry rasped.

"Seers have other powers, rather than just seeing into the future, they have certain connections with different worlds, right now Miss Weasley is in one that we can't reach. She'll emerge when it's time." Dumbledore folded his hands and looked at the three before him. They had grown up considerably...better than he could've hoped.

"Wi--will she bring Sirius with her?" Harry asked his voice as feeble as a child's. Dumbledore smiled at his question and tapped his mouth with his index finger before saying, "What will come, will come Mr. Potter. Trust that."

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Draco made his way over the Forbidden Forest looking into its dark depths. He couldn't see much, but he figured he'd be able to make out a clearing if need be. He'd been flying for what seemed like a half hour when he finally found the clearing. He slowly made his dissent, looking around to make sure that it was safe. He landed softly and pulled out his wand, walked to the shadows of the trees and waited.

He must've been waiting for about an hour when he thought that maybe the letter was a fraud. He had just pocketed his wand when he saw something in the distance, a glowing something moving toward the clearing. He stealthily moved back into the shadows trying to hide himself from view. The glow moved slowly and soon, the figure entered the clearing, ethereal in every way, it was a girl. She couldn't have been older that Draco, she walked to the center of the clearing.

Her hair was silver; it shimmered in the glow and cast off sparkles that looked like diamonds. Draco sat mesmerized. She started to turn in circles and soon she was circling at such a rapid pace she started to lift off the ground leaving a vortex of shimmer beneath her. She held something close to her body at first, but now she thrust it upward toward the starry heavens, heaving her head back, an ear-piercing sigh rang out through the night. The object looked like a mirror, but that couldn't be right could it?

The vortex beneath her was spinning faster, and shining brighter. Draco had to shield his eyes from the blinding light. There was a whistling sound moving about them and the force of the vortex was causing the trees to react. Draco fell to the ground, the wind whipping his hair, his eyes shut tightly and his hands over his ears. The sound and light kept building around him until...it stopped. All at once it stopped. Draco braced himself and slowly stood up, the light was gone, the sound was gone, and the trees had stopped. The girl stood frozen in air, and on the ground was something he hadn't noticed before, and he was fairly sure wasn't there, but Draco wasn't about to go investigate...there was definitely something...strange going on...even for the magical world.

The girl stood in the air, then fell, fell, fell, and she landed on the ground with a sickening THUMP. Draco stood rooted to the spot for a moment...nothing happened. The girl didn't move and neither did the heap beside her. Draco cautiously made his way out of the shadows, his nerves were getting the better of him, but he tried to push the feelings aside. He made it to the center of the clearing and found the girl and what looked like a disgruntled homeless wizard with her. Something was happening; Draco had to adjust his eyes in the dark to see it. The girl's silver hair started to fade and rust, her creamy skin, while still creamy, became plagued with freckles that continued up and dotted her nose. Draco stood stock still for a good fifteen minutes, not believing his eyes. He gasped for air and said, "Weasley?!"

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Ginny wasn't sure what was happening, all she knew was that it was cold and windy wherever she was, and dark. She slowly opened her eyes letting them adjust to her new surroundings. The first things she noticed were the fairy lights in her vision, but they were awfully still and silent, they weren't really the status quo fairy lights one normally sees, then Ginny recognized them as stars. Slowly she turned, and saw Sirius Black--

"Sirius!" cried Ginny pulling herself towards him and wrapping her arms around him. He was cold and lifeless and Ginny shook with fear. She didn't know where they were or how they'd gotten there, but she was sure that she didn't want to be there alone with a possibly dead Sirius Black. Ginny shook her head trying to steer the thought from her mind. She shook the body and it flopped around uselessly.

"I can fix this, I can fix this," Ginny said. She tried to get up, but found that movement in itself wasn't an option at the moment, instead she settled for just lying and trying to collect her thoughts.

She had been in a room...with Sirius Black...she hadn't known how she'd gotten there...but she was determined to get both of them out. She'd looked for a door...or something that looked semi-useful, but nothing had presented itself, then everything was hazy after that, and she was now sitting out in the middle of....

Ginny looked at her surroundings again, finding the familiarities.

"The Quidditch Pitch?"

"Yes well, couldn't very well take you inside when I didn't have the whole story could I?" came a soft voice from behind Ginny. She shrieked into the night, causing Sirius Black to stir slightly. Ginny forgot the voice and her weakness and made her way over to Sirius, she enveloped him in a bone crushing hug and laughed hysterically into his shoulder.

"We did it Sirius, we made it back. You're alive...we're at Hogwarts, Sirius, Hogwarts. We have to tell Harry and Dumbledore...Ron and Hermione will want to know as well. You don't look good at all...we need to get you help." Ginny sprung to action with energy she didn't think she had. The voice stopped her, "Since when did you become best friends with an escaped convict Weasley?"

"I...uh...I...Malfoy?" Ginny asked squinting into the bleachers, sure enough there sat a bored looking Draco Malfoy.

"It is I."

"What...what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," was his cryptic reply.

"Listen...I don't know what's going on here, but I need to find Dumbledore--"

"I'm sure he'll be exceptionally pleased to hear about your nightly escapade...with none other than the infamous Sirius Black. It seems to me you have a lot of explaining to do little one." Draco had come down from the bleachers and was now advancing toward Ginny and Sirius. Ginny stood and placed herself protectively between Malfoy and Sirius.

"Leave me alone Malfoy!"

"I'm not letting this go that easily Weasley, I saw some things in the Forest and I want to know what that was that you pulled off earlier. I've never seen anything like it. Obviously you received some letter of some sort too...or else why would you be there? But what was I supposed to come up with...surely there's something more to this?" Draco seemed to be talking to himself. Ginny took advantage of the situation and searched for her wand so she could transport Sirius into the school, it'd probably be best if she put an invisibility charm of some sort on him first, then what to do about Malfoy? She'd worry about that git later. She couldn't find her wand anywhere on her...of course when she looked down she seemed to be wearing hospital clothes. Well, that's different.

Ginny grabbed Sirius under his arms, choosing to ignore Draco's ramblings, she heaved and tried to pull the man, but he barely budged at her efforts. Draco noticed the movement at watched the girl as she tried to pull the man twice her size. This went on for about five minutes, the little Weasley trying to move the ex-convict and Draco Malfoy staring in amusement.

"Are you going to help me?" Ginny asked exasperatedly.

"Why should I?"

"I dunno...I figured maybe you'd find my getaway pathetic and maybe try and help me because it was so amusing."

"It is very amusing Weasley, now tell me again...why would that motivate me to help you any?" Ginny shrieked in frustration and marched up to Draco so they were only inches apart, and if he wasn't so tall their noses would be touching.

"When I get my wand back, you are going to regret this!" Draco laughed at her, blatantly, not a chuckle funny ha-ha laugh, but a point-and-laugh in your face laugh.

"Weasley, I've seen your worst, the Bat-Bogey Hex, and while that's a painful memory I'm sure to keep close to my heart...that's all I'm worried about." Ginny sighed in frustration...there was no way she was going to get Sirius inside without Draco's help, but she wanted to avoid as many questions as possible. Surely one of her dorm mates should have alerted somebody that she was missing, but no one was here to help her besides the arrogant git in front of her.

"What do you want from me Malfoy?" Ginny asked in a desperate breathy tone and realized her mistake too late. Draco's eyes seemed to glaze over, and a slow smirk crept onto his face.

"Nothing you'd give me willingly," he said quietly. Ginny blanched and looked at him disgustedly.

"Don't flatter yourself Weasley, I meant information." Draco spat, a satisfied sneer coming onto his face.

"You're right ferret, I wouldn't waste my breath giving you any information." Ginny said coolly. Draco shrugged and sighed deeply, "That's too bad little Weasley...sure looks like you could've used some help...but...oh well." Draco started taking strides leaving a torn Ginny behind.

I could give him false information.

He'd figure out it's a lie.

Okay...what if I just give him a little bit of information?

Then he takes that bit and leaves you here to deal with Sirius' weight all by yourself.

Surely there must be something I can do!

Well think quickly, because he's almost gone.

Bugger!

"Alright..." Ginny tried to stop herself, but she'd already shouted after him. Draco strode back and looked at her simply, "Excuse me, it's hard to hear from such a far distance. What's that you said?" Ginny heaved a big sigh and glared at Malfoy.

"I said alright, but I'll give the information on my conditions."

"And what exactly are your conditions?" Ginny tossed a few options over and over in her head for a while.

"You bring him up to the Gryffindor Tower for me and I'll answer one question--"

"Ten."

"Two."

"Ten."

"One."

"Nine."

"Two."

"Seven."

"Three?"

"Come on Weasley...I'm your only hope to get this bloke up all those stairs without getting punished by Filch! Five is my final offer, take it or leave it."

"Fine. You help me get him up to the tower and I'll answer your five questions when we get there--"

"Wait. How am I supposed to assume that you won't just slam the portrait in my face, and leave me without my answers?"

"I guess you'll just have to trust me."

Draco scoffed.

"How about you give me my five answers and then I help you--"

"Then what happens when I give you the answers and you sneer at me and leave me here to lug him all by myself?"

Draco smirked arrogantly and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I suppose you'll just have to trust me." It was Ginny's turn to scoff, but she couldn't fight the feeling deep down and it came out as a cough. Ginny shivered involuntarily, cursing herself profusely in her mind.

"Looks like you're getting cold Weasley, guess you'd better choose now." Draco crossed his arms and stared at her expectantly. Ginny searched her mind, there had to be a better solution...there had to be.

"Okay, okay, hear me out. What if I answer your questions little by little? We start with one question here and you help me get him to the main stair case, you ask me another question, we get up the first two flights of stairs you ask the next question, next two flights of stairs next question...then when we get to the portrait hole last question. Deal?" Draco seemed to consider this for a while before he nodded.

"Right then...what's the first question?"

"How do you know Sirius Black?" Ginny looked at her shoes as though they were the most interesting things in the world.

"Family friend?" she offered hoping she might get away with the sarcastic remark. Draco smirked at her, "I see we have a comedian on our hands...well Miss Weasley I have to tell you if you're looking for my help, your answers are going to have to be more in depth than that." Ginny sighed and glared at Draco.

"Fine. He was a friend of Harry's parents, but he didn't kill them like everyone thought he did, it was really Peter--"

"Pettigrew?"

"Right. Anyway...he's a good guy in this little war of good vs. evil. I know him through Harry. Third year when we all thought that Sirius Black was trying to kill Harry, he was really trying to kill Peter Pettigrew who was Scabbers, Ron's rat, but I'm sure your Death Eater father probably already told you all about that." Draco didn't pay any attention to Ginny's last statement, he was too busy laughing.

"What? What's so funny?" Ginny placed her hands on her hips a very Molly Weasley mannerism.

"Leave it to King Weasel to not know when he's got a murderer sleeping in his bed." Draco laughed. Ginny glared and held her biting remark; for fear that Draco might not help her.

"Right, anyway...make with the magic." Draco raised his wand and muttered the incantation and soon Sirius was mobile. Ginny and Draco made their way to the front entrance in uncomfortable silence. Draco stopped Ginny outside the front doors, "Draco, I said main stair case...lets stick to the deal please."

"Actually, I was going to offer maybe concealing Mr. Black so no prefects or Filch get too suspicious. I mean its bad enough that I have to defend you from them, that's suspicious enough, but doing that and walking around with an unconscious Sirius Black might be extremely suspicious wouldn't you agree?" Ginny rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'Wanker' before she stood and tapped her foot impatiently waiting for Draco to perform the charm.

"Can we go now?" Ginny asked once the charm was in place. Draco nodded the affirmative.

"Well...don't lose him, or I'll try out some of my brothers' new product line on you."

"Oooo. I'm scared Weasley." Draco sneered.

"Good, that's the way it should be." Ginny said before she entered the school, leaving Draco smirking behind her.

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