Breaking All the Rules

Chapter Eight

Breaking All the Rules

Cutting it Close

~*~~*~~*~

"Here," Blaise said as he slipped something small in Draco's hand.

He took it and looked at it. "You think my mind needs clearing Zabini?" he said as he shrank it and shoved it in his ear.

"Well, Ginevra has one. It's in her hand." He paused for Draco to look at her, walked to Julia and began talking to her quietly.

Draco got his meaning and made his way to Ginny who had taken to just sitting on a rock and not talking to anyone. "So, you finally get to see the murderers in action huh? Does it feel good, seeing as you're the one they're searching for?" he said coldly as he rested himself next to her.

She closed her eyes and sighed. That was not what she wanted to hear right now. "Thank you," she said sarcastically.

"Welcome," he said reaching for her hand. Instinctively she pulled it away. "Don't worry I'm not going to hold it again if I can help it." He reached for it again and took out the mind clearer from her hand. He shrank it with his wand and then replaced it in her ear. "I always put mine here. This way if I'm walking, I don't have to worry about dropping it. See, perfect fit." She felt him remove his hand from her ear after slipping it into the cove and bringing her hair to fall in front to hide it. It was such a kind gesture, she wasn't sure if she should thank him or not.

"No need to thank the murderer. I did it for me, this way I don't have to worry about saving your ass again anytime soon." He got up callously and walked over to Blaise and Raymond.

"Giving your wife some encouraging thoughts?" Blaise asked with a raised eyebrow. Raymond smiled at him.

"Yes, nothing but," he said with a fake smile.

***

The thick forest buzzed everywhere they turned. Draco and Blaise walked with Raymond and Ginny in a group to make the chance of seeing an intruder easily. The two camps, male and female, had split into two. It was named by the head as a training program for their examinations. All the G years had gone with a teacher of their own as they were only in their first year. The E and F groups had split by themselves to see what they could do.

Blaise treaded carefully on the dank leafy carpet of the forest. They had all been silent for all of about three minutes but to those in danger it probably seemed like forever. He had to break the silence or he was going to go crazy. "So, are we getting graded on this?" he joked.

Julia rolled her eyes. "Sure, Zabini, it can be an extra curricular activity on your part. Credits given for timing and use of technical spells."

"Yeah, and extra marks for damagical wounds," Draco added. They all laughed but began shushing each other immediately to keep quiet. They still couldn't keep the silence though, as small sporadic snorts followed shortly after at the thought of it.

Then, Blaise's interest peaked. "What does 'damagical' mean anyway?" he asked.

Draco shook his head and laughed quietly. "I haven't got a clue, mate."

Julia turned around. "It's the damage made by magic during a detainment and damage session, points are awarded to each wound due to the area located."

"Really? No wonder I got so many marks for it, I think that's how I passed it in the first place." They continued walking. "I wounded my mark all over, especially in all the 'hard to reach places.'"

"Eew, I didn't need to hear that."

"Oh, as if you should talk." Blaise made a defensive noise but before he could speak, Julia chimed in.

"Yeah, Mr. 'Watch-me-and-all-my-complicated-incantations-including-a-restricted-spell-that-is-only-used-by-experienced-assassins. You put the rest of us to shame."

"I did not!"

"You used the 'Zabini 'Blade of light' specialty,' we were all in shock when you did that. No-one has tracked anything so fast in the empathetic classes. No-one, Blaise, and believe me, they have all tried. Six minutes is hard to beat. You were powerful then, I can only imagine how good you are now after four years in the field. I don't know how you do it, after my first mark... I just couldn't."

Ginny looked at him. He's like a lethal Hermione. She laughed at this and ignored the sudden strange looks coming her way. Just then, something fell from the trees above.

"Well hey, at least I wasn't Malfoy. His first mark was-."

Ginny jumped and screamed, swiping at her face to get whatever it was off. Her hair flew in all directions around her and her face turned a bright pink as she twisted and turned to each swipe at her face. She slapped and kicked out her legs in every which direction, the fear evident. She continued this ritual over the rest of her body swiping and screaming continually and the others turned to look at her. After a while of being dumbstruck at this mental display and them holding in laughter, Draco took hold of her shoulders.

"Ginny, Ginny! It's alright, it was just a leaf."

He tried so hard not to smile, really he did.

"Wait," Julia turned around as her eyes glazed over again. "I can sense him, he's scared."

"Him?" Blaise said wondering and tuned in. It wasn't a man. He instantly turned to Ginny, looked at Draco and frowned. Draco looked into Ginny's ear. It was gone.

"You think it could be a woman? I don't know, I can't sense that far. I get the anxiety though. Oh, they're really terrified of getting caught." She smiled wickedly and Ginny got the sense that she liked the hunt as much as the kill.

Draco turned to her and looked at her in the eye. "Don't - talk," he mouthed and she nodded as he crouched down to find the mind clearer on the ground. Raymond turned to see him on the floor. "Did you drop something?" She walked over to them and looked down to him.

"Erm, yeah, she dropped an earring."

Raymond tutted and crouched down. "You see, this is exactly why I don't wear those things." She looked up at Ginny and the smile on her face cleared slowly. "Malfoy, how many did she lose?" she said with a frown.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she said standing up, "either she dropped both of them -." She dragged Draco up to stand beside her and grabbed hold of his ear pulling out the clearer. "-or she wasn't wearing any to begin with." She looked at both men and held up the mind clearer for them to see it. "Care to explain this?" She was looking at Blaise mostly, he was the only one who would know to use it at a time like this. "You brought a mark on the island-." She lowered her voice a fraction. "Are you crazy!" she hissed.

"Ray, let me explain." Blaise tried to calm her down. With both of them stripped of the only protection they had, every team was probably on their way.

"Save it, Zabini," she stated and stood back from all of them. "I am very disappointed in you. I thought I knew you and now you go and do this."

"Please, Raymond, we can't kill her."

"Why?" she said.

There was silence. Then there were rhythmic footsteps coming in their direction. Ginny backed up to a tree; she did not want to be anywhere near any of them.

"No answer?" She scoffed. "Stand aside." She held her wand in front of her to Ginny. Her mouth parted to speak.

Draco stepped in front of her. "I can't let you do that, Julia."

She glared at him. "Stand aside, Draco, I will go through you if I have to."

Blaise stepped in front of Draco. "You'll have to go through me first," he said looking in her eyes.

"Step aside, Blaise."

"No," he stated.

Her hand began to quiver. "Stand aside, Zabini!"

"No," he repeated.

"Agent 29-85, stand down. I will shoot through you." Her voice was laced with danger and her aim was straight for his heart.

He stepped toward her and pressed the wand against him. "Go ahead. I will not let you shoot her." He raised his wand, as did Draco from behind him. "It won't be the first time you've hit me there."

They stood that way for a while and Julia kept her aim to Blaise's heart. Their gaze stayed constant, glares mixed with something else. Suddenly, her hand dropped.

"Go, before they come," she said quietly.

He sighed. "Thank you." Suddenly he got the feeling that they weren't alone. And feelings like these were often accompanied by physically not being alone. He began to search through the leaves with everything he had to sense the direction it was coming from.

She gave a weak smile and dropped her eyes. "You owe me for this. If I was caught-." A bright flash came at them and Blaise dragged her to the ground before she was hit.

"Get her down!" Blaise yelled to Draco. Constant flashes came at them and hit the trees. They barely dodged the hexes that were aimed at the ground around them.

"We have to get to the place we arrived," Blaise said.

"The gate, are you crazy? Do you know how guarded that would be?" Draco started.

"Go, I can shield you." Raymond got up and began to run. They all rose quickly and followed her. Just then, someone emerged nearby and Ginny caught their eye as more came out of the nearby trees. She stopped and looked at them as they all fired at once. Just as they were about to hit her she was hit from the side and sent to the ground.

"Oh, bloody hell," she heard above her as Draco stood up gingerly. "Come on, hurry up." He pulled her up and they continued to run. Surprisingly there were less people nearer the gate because they had all heard the commotion and gone running into the forest.

They stood in a circle. Blaise looked to Julia. "Are you coming? If you stay, they'll kill you."

She sighed at looked around. "I have nothing left to stay for do I?" she smiled and joined them as they each touched the port key.

Landing was not as bad as they thought it would be. There was less darkness from trees and the room they landed in was much more glamorous than the forest they had evacuated.

"Well, that was exciting wasn't it?" Blaise said into the calm of the house.

"You can say that again." They all sighed and stood back from each other.

Just then, Draco dropped to the ground.

"What the hell, he was hit!" Blaise cried as he knelt next to him. Ginny's eyes widened at his crumpled form on the ground. Julia kneeled to join him and felt for a pulse. It was beating so abnormally fast that it didn't even feel like it was there.

The shirt Draco was wearing was covered in blood.