I'll Be...

The shadows enveloped a small figure in a corner as she watched in internal battle rage in stormy eyes. Her chocolate eyes grew dark as his hand moved to the seal on the letter in his hand. She hadn't meant to come across him. She had been wandering through the halls and come across a little alcove. When she had leaned against the wall a small bump had dug into her back and when she had pushed it a passageway had been revealed. It hadn't been five minutes before she had heard the door open again. She had managed to hide in the shadows before someone had burst into the room through the small hallway.

She had been sitting there for a good fifteen minutes. The boy had come in and promptly kicked a chair out of his way before flicking his wand towards the fireplace and creating roaring flames. He had dejectedly fallen into a chair throwing a small pillow at the wall. She watched from her corner as his usually impassive or scowling face settled into a deep tired frown. His thin frame was slumped in the chair and his steely eyes looked at the letter in his hand warily. White blonde hair falling into his eyes as it fell out of the pony he put it into. High, pronounced cheekbones clenched as he decided whether or not he was going to read it.

"Fuck" the word escaped his lips as he ran a hand through his hair mussing it further. "Bloody fuck it all."

She had continued to watch him until finally his hand had moved to the seal and broke it. She could see any colour in his already pale face disappear as he read it. Given the person, she hadn't expected it to be good news. Good news and the name Malfoy didn't mix to well. At least, it didn't mix well in her experience with the family. His head bowed and the letter dropped to the floor. She didn't know long she watched him but he finally raised his head again and she frowned at the defeated look on his face. He got up and left after looking at the clock. It was dinner. She waited for him to leave the room before she crawled from her space in the shadows.

She took over the chair that Draco Malfoy had sat in only moments before and stared at the letter on the floor. She curled her legs up underneath her and bit her full pink lip in thought as she pondered what she had just seen. She played with a loose bit of hair that had come free of the sloppy bun she had placed in her hair secured only by a chopstick. The light dusting of freckles across her nose was more pronounced in the firelight as were the natural blonde highlights in her dark red auburn hair. An ink smudge marred her face just below her right cheekbone. She had itched there with her fingers, which were covered in ink as well. Her small short frame was hidden in the large cloak she wore over some pyjamas.

With a sudden quick impulse she snatched the letter up and regarded the seal curiously. Green wax with the latter M in cursive stood out against the tan colour of the parchment. She almost rolled her eyes at the thought of Lucius Malfoy using this seal that screamed arrogance with its flashy and flourished design. It was too easy to picture. She turned the letter around to find neat black writing.

Dear Draco,

It has come to my attention that you haven't been supporting our cause very much lately. You know how that upsets your mother and I. She is desperately hoping that you'll try to get along with Ms. Parkinson a bit better as do I. It is only five months until the end of your seventh year boy. I don't need you screwing things up so close to the end. June 20^th is your initiation into the family business and I hope you are ready for it.

Lucius Malfoy

Ginny shivered as the cruel words washed over her. Anyone could tell there were underlying threats in that message. You could tell without explanation that last sentence had an invisible "or else" at the end. The question was why did Lucius feel he needed to warn his son. Wasn't Draco a Death Eater in training? She remembered the look in his face. He didn't want to join the Death Eaters it seemed. Knowing Draco like she did though, she knew that he would never try to get help. He would live with his father's decision even if it killed him. The cost of pride was great in the Malfoy family.

For some reason this disturbed Ginny greatly. No one deserved that kind of pressure. Draco didn't know he had a chance to refuse the offer because his father had never taught him to see those choices. This had been a very smart move on his part. It set Ginny's mind to work though as she thought about what had happened in the room only moments before. She could do something to help him. A determined expression came over the youngest Weasley as she left the room.

~*~

Ginny set off down a corridor quickly as the portrait to the Gryffindor common room closed behind her. If she were going to get this done she would have to do it without her brother breathing down her neck. He was in a particularly irate mood today because Hermione was angry with him. He had distracted her when she was studying and she had forgotten the fifth ingredient of an invisibility potion on their test that day. Needless to say Ron wasn't going to be cuddling with his girlfriend for a while. This caused him to take out his anger on everyone in his path.

As it stood Ron would probably have both Hermione and his sister giving him the cold shoulder for the time being. Though Ginny thought she had more of a reason. She loved Hermione dearly but the girl could be a bit ridiculous about her grades. Ginny was just as incensed as Ron though. She had been sitting by the fire with Neville helping him with his Defence Against the Dark Arts homework. Ginny had leaned across him to reach something on the other side of the couch beside Neville. Ron being the overprotective and assuming brother as always thought they were trying to snog. You can imagine the ensuing chaos. Ginny had calmly and icily informed him exactly what he was seeing before storming out of the common room.

Ginny was quiet and could probably loose herself in any crowd if it wasn't for her Weasley hair. That didn't mean she hadn't received the infamous Weasley temper. There was one thing that was different about her though. When Ginny got mad it was slow to come (unless it involved her brothers) and slower to leave unlike her family's. Yet she didn't possess the vast volume and burst of the normal temper. Ginny, like the twins, tended to stay calm and come up with revenge. It left one feeling paranoid wondering when the revenge would be served. She had waited five months once before taking revenge on Percy Charlie when he sent her a dragon that blew real fire and had reduced her favourite book to ashes.

Not many people would guess this because she was so distant normally. She had friends, like Neville, Hermione, Collin Creevey, Ron and Harry, but she didn't have a friend she would tell even her lightest secrets to. She kept everything inside and chose to write in a diary. A strange choice considering it had been a diary that had caused this girl to become so withdrawn with her feelings in the first place.

At the moment she was going against her usual mannerisms as she headed towards the secret room she had dubbed 'historicus zothecae'. Historical room. It had been two weeks since her first visit to the room and she had gone back once on the last Hogsmeade trip after making sure Malfoy had gone to the village. She had been positive he would because it was the last before Christmas.

When she had last entered the room she had studied it more. When she didn't have the pale Slytherin keeping her mind occupied she was free to notice many more things, which wasn't often lately. She had taken up watching him when she could. The seed of curiosity had been planted inside her and it was growing.

It was a decent sized room with comfortable furniture. It was laid out in an organized and logical way. The entrance had a small hall, which opened up to the rectangular room. Directly across from the entrance was a large fireplace. The pit itself was an inch higher then Ginny's head and she was five feet and three inches. Not very tall but for a fireplace it was large. It had a mantle with a painting above it clearly displaying the four founders. There were four tapestries in the room placed on either side of the fireplace and then one on each of the adjacent walls. The entranceway wall held to bookcases full of history and Hogwarts' records. The stone floor was covered in a thick green carpet with gold border in an ivy design. The chair and small couch in front of the fire were the same shade of slightly dark emerald green as the carpet. The only other things in the room were two small tables on either side of the room. Both held a lamp but one held a pile of research materials and the other was empty. She assumed it was for studying on.

She entered the room and sighed contentedly knowing she could breathe easy for a while. She wasn't being watched or judged and she could let herself relax. She went to a bookcase and grabbed a thick blue book on Greek Mythology. She smiled and sat down on the armchair. Opening the book to a random page she read the title 'Orpheus and Eurydice'. She was so wrapped up in the story she didn't her the door open until two loud voices broke her silence.

"What the bloody hell should I do Blaise?" Draco's voice carried over to her and she looked up to see him enter the room. He didn't notice her though and a second person entered the room.

He looked like he could be related to Draco but his features had a certain Greek quality about them. His skin was darker, his features sharper but his raven hair was styled the same. They both kept it long and tied back in an elastic band. His eyes were a dark blue and somehow he had a passing resemblance to Tom Riddle. Ginny shivered as she made the connection with his familiarity.

"Try not joining?" Blaise answered.

"Oh that sounds great" Draco snorted. "Oh hi Voldie, just dropped by for a cup of tea. By the way I don't think I want to be a slave to an ugly old bastard who doesn't realize that he is a mudblood as well as a complete quack so I'll pass on the mark."

"Sounds good to me" Blaise smirked. "I don't know how well your father would take it."

"If Voldemort wanted to kill me he would have to wait until after my father cut my fingers off one by one watched me almost bleed to death then while I was still alive he would mostly likely place me under the Cruciatus before sending me six feet under still alive." Draco was pacing back and forth as he talked and Blaise looked concerned. Neither had noticed Ginny and she wasn't sure if she wanted them to. "What are you going to do?"

"I am not going to do anything" Blaise answered him. "If I choose to fight it will be for Dumbledore. My father died and my mother doesn't care what I do."

"Lucky bastard" Draco muttered with a smirk.

It was at this point that Ginny's nose began to itch. She plugged it and fought back the sneeze she knew was coming. She covered her mouth and held her breath until the itch went away. As soon as she uncovered her nose it came back.

"Achoo!" Ginny froze as both heads whipped around to look at her sitting near the fireplace from their place near the bookcases.

"How the bloody hell did you get in here?" Blaise asked surprised. He was looking at her as if she had started dancing a jig. The only emotion she could see on Draco's face was anger.

"It was an accident?" she said not sounding sure at all.

"How much did you hear?" Draco asked ignoring the snort from Blaise.