The Soul Keeper

Chapter 14: The Secret Door

They headed back towards the castle together, talking things over and trying to decide where they should start looking that afternoon. Against the wishes of both, they would have to suffer through their classes first.

When they reached the corridor, Ginny immediately turned to make her own way to Transfiguration, which was to be her first class of the day. A soft touch on her shoulder stopped her, and she was suddenly reminded of the time not very long ago when someone had touched her shoulder in the Great Hall in quite the same way, but then disappeared before she could be certain who it was. After that, she had often wondered whether it had been Draco, or if that were just wishful thinking on her part. Now, there could be no doubt. The slight pressure of his hand was exactly the way she remembered it.

This time, she didn´t waste a moment and turned around quickly. "What?"

"Do you...can I...," Draco began hesitantly, quite unlike his normal self-assured way of talking. "What I mean is, can I walk you to class? I have Potions first, and Snape won´t mind if I´m a little late..." He got this out quickly, and as Ginny glanced up at him, surprise evident on her features, it seemed to her that it was almost like he was afraid she would say no.

Maybe he was worried about that kiss last night. It had certainly not been expected, but that didn´t mean it hadn´t been welcome. It had actually been nice, at least for her. What if he didn´t feel the same way? She quickly tried to dismiss the thought. If he hadn´t felt something, why would he be asking to walk her to class now?

Obviously, the problem was that neither of them had so much as dared mention what had happened the night before the whole time they had been talking. They were too uncertain of each other. Even now, Ginny still felt that way. She was afraid to let herself get carried away with her feelings; it was too easy to get hurt that way. Maybe Draco felt the same. Could it be that he was just as uncertain of his feelings as she was?

The thought unnerved her. It was strange to think that there might be something out there that could make Draco unsure of himself.

Looking up at him, she smiled slightly, her doubt clearly showing. " I guess you could if you want," she told him, feeling awkwardly shy all of a sudden. She didn´t know why, after all, she´d already kissed him hadn´t she? Why be shy now? But things seemed different in the light of day, and already her common sense was telling her that this might not be such a good idea. But since when had she ever listened to that?

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After Draco walked Ginny to class ( a strange affair, with neither of them saying much, often only glancing over at each other and grinning stupidly, as though walking to class together was insanely funny), he hurried to get to his own. He still had five minutes to spare, but since he was on the other side of the castle and the Potion´s classroom was all the way down in the dungeons, he knew that wouldn´t go very far.

He began a sprint down the hallway, allowing his thoughts to wonder as he did so. In his mind´s eye, he saw Ginny´s face again, smiling shyly up at him when he had bid her good-bye down the hall from the door to the Transfiguration classroom. So compelling had that smile been; it´s child-like innocence radiating from her face, that Draco had had the immediate, irresistible urge to lean down and whisper quietly in her ear " Have a good class, Gin" before kissing her swiftly on the cheek and striding around the corner out of sight.

Luckily, no one had been around to see what surely would have been an amazing event, well worth discussion by any of the numerous gossips located throughout Hogwarts. Even if they had, Draco was almost certain he probably wouldn´t have cared at the moment anyway.

It was this train of thought that kept him occupied most of the way to his destination. He was very near the stairs leading down to Potions when a deserted classroom caught his eye, its door standing wide open.

He veered into it and had closed the door behind him before he could even begin to wonder why he´d done it. A cold voice startled him out of his temporary mental haze.

"Salazar!" his mind whispered fiercely, giving a hard shove that pushed the other´s presence back to the farthest reaches of his mind.

Draco was getting angry and confused. What did the old devil mean? He had come into the room of his own free will, undoubtedly for a purpose. Hadn´t he? Suddenly, he wasn´t so sure. Why had he come? Forcing his mind away from that horrible possibility, he turned his attention and his anger to a more pressing threat than his own thoughts. "What do you want now? Whatever it is, I want no part in it."

So you have realized who I am, have you? It´s about time. I was beginning to wonder if you were a bit dull and if perhaps I should have picked someone else to help me with my quest.

"You probably should have," Draco sneered. "I told you, I don´t plan on helping."

Maybe not now, but as you are just beginning to understand, when I need you, you will have little choice in the matter.

Draco felt a twinge of unease at these words, but he was determined not to let fear overtake him. He was learning more out of this conversation than he ever had previously. "What will you need me for?" he asked after a moments pause, feigning a fascinated curiosity that he didn´t really feel.

All this was said so matter-of-factly that Draco couldn´t repress the urge to roll his eyes. The guy sounded like he was reading lines from some Muggle fantasy book. But even as he tried to laugh it off, Draco could not deny the seriousness of the situation. If Salazar was allowed to rise from the grave and use the Soul Keeper, thousands of wizards and Muggles alike could be killed in an effort to stop him. It could bring about the greatest destruction the world had seen since Voldemort. Probably even more.

The thought made even Draco cringe. This was all happening so fast. Wasn´t he even going to be allowed time to think in between all this? Why was he the one to suddenly have "the weight of the world" thrown onto his shoulders? He could have sworn that was more Potter´s thing. He didn´t even get a choice as to what side to choose. The question of going along with Slytherin or fighting him had already been decided the day Ginny got involved in everything. Maybe, if he hadn´t gotten to know her as well as he had, things would have been different. Then, he would probably have been more receptive to Slytherin´s plans of world domination and the not-so-subtle promise of making Draco his right-hand man.

Now, the only thing he could think of was how demented this man must have been in real life if he had managed to carry this much of his personality through with him into death. He had to fight him; there was no other option open to him. Malfoy or not, he couldn´t help this mad man destroy the world, even if he was promised to be rewarded. Draco knew enough from his father to know that an underling, a subordinate, could very quickly become expendable once they had lived out their usefulness, and Draco had no intentions of finding that out first-hand.

But none of these secret thoughts did he allow to slip into Salazar´s domain to be picked up and read by him. He kept them firmly in the secure corner of his mind, only replying to Slytherin´s grand statement with a noncommittal " mhmm."

He was more worried about how Salazar had managed to take control of his body, even for a moment, without Draco realizing he was there. This worried him immensely. If it could come and go as it pleased, how could Draco ever be prepared to fight back? It would mean constant concentration, and that wasn´t something Draco could do and keep going without end. He was only human, and he had learned from these occasional, brief conversations that even the effort of mind-speak took an extreme amount of strength and endurance. What would he do if he couldn´t keep his few mental shields up and Salazar learned everything that was really in his mind?

Another thing was bothering Draco too. How had Salazar known that there was a doorway there and guided him into the room? Draco was convinced that that was what had to have happened. There was no other explanation to his being there. And that meant that Salazar must have more of a hold over him than Draco had imagined possible, if he could slip into the part of his mind that controlled his vision and see through Draco´s eyes.

There was no doubt about it. Draco had allowed himself to relax, thinking that Slytherin would not dare come back so soon to bother him. He had been wrong, and now he must keep a constant watch for him. Even when he was around Ginny. Especially when he was around Ginny.

Slytherin already knew that he had a soft spot for the girl, the last thing he wanted it to discover was just how much of one. She made him feel things that no other girl had ever made him feel. His heart beat quicker when she was around; his mouth was more ready to smile. Jokes formed on his lips willing themselves to be presented before he even realized they were there, and the hardness in his eyes faded away almost to nothing when he was close to her. Nothing he had ever experienced with Pansy or any of the other numerous girls he´d been around over the years could even come close to matching the sensation. It was like...like his own heaven on earth. His and Ginny´s.

He did not intend to let Salazar ruin that for him, and when the presence began fading from his mind, he gave it a firm push to help it on it´s way. He could not completely banish it on his own, but he could see it to the door, in a manner of speaking.

With those final words of farewell, Slytherin was gone, and Draco was left to ponder his words.

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Needless to say, Draco was very late for class, but, just as expectedly, no points were taken off of Slytherin when Draco smugly claimed that he had been unavoidably detained. Snape had eyed him strangely and several of the Slytherins had snickered at the disgusted look on the Gryffindor´s faces when he wasn`t punished, but other than that nothing more was said about the incident.

Ginny and Draco spent the rest of the day in a frustrated haze, wishing they could get out of class, and both taking even longer with their work as a result.

Eventually, their last class did come to an end, and Ginny hurried to the entrance of the Great Hall immediately afterwards to wait for Draco. He was supposed to meet her there. She didn´t even bother to go back to the common room to put her books up, so she was stuck holding them in the hall. Now she regretted that immensely.

Ten minutes passed, her arms growing more tired by the second, and when he still hadn´t shown up she went ahead and took a seat at the empty Gryffindor table, laying her books out in front of her and relieving her arms. Pulling the folded up paper from her pocket, she placed it on the table in front of her and began studying it again. She might as well do something until Draco arrived.

She only had time to read and re-read the "clue" once before she heard footsteps behind her and glanced around to see Draco approaching.

"About time you showed up, I was beginning to wonder if you´d gotten lost," she told him, only half-joking.

Draco didn´t answer, just continued to walk forward until he could throw himself into the seat beside her tiredly.

"What´s wrong?" she asked quickly, alarmed at his odd behavior. She´d never seen Draco "throw" himself anywhere before. He was normally much too graceful.

Draco sighed, looking up to meet her eyes as he told her what had happened that morning and how worn out he was now after having to sit through classes and pretend to pay attention all day. He didn´t tell her what Salazar had told him though, preferring to keep that to himself for the time being. It would only worry her more, and he didn´t want to see the horrified and tense look that he knew would come over her face if he told her everything. He didn´t want to be responsible for the darkening of her playful eyes into seriousness, and he certainly didn´t want to be responsible for any impulsive actions she might take because of him. If she got hurt somehow...Draco just didn´t think he would be able to stand it.

"Should we postpone this then? We can try tomorrow if you don´t feel up to it," Ginny offered, not bothering to hide the concern from her face. The way he seemed so tired worried her extremely, and she didn´t want to push him farther than he was physically capable of going at the moment. He looked as if he could fall into bed and sleep for days.

"No!" Draco protested violently, sitting straight up in his chair in an effort to look more awake. "I´m not going to let him ruin my life when I have a choice about it. I´m going to go on as if nothing has happened."

"Alright..." Ginny agreed hesitantly, not wanting to argue. If he insisted that he was well enough to continue, then she was not going to argue. That is, not unless he got so bad that she had to. "Let´s try to figure out where to start then."

"Already have. I´ve been thinking about it today, and I think I know where to look first."

"Where?" she asked curiously.

"Right there." Draco pointed to a corner at the far end of the Hall. " It will probably be somewhere close to there."

"What makes you so sure?" Ginny asked doubtfully. She didn´t really see why that corner was any different from the others except...

That was it. It was darker than any other part of the Great Hall. The Hogwarts banner hung there, blocking the light from reaching it and creating a huge shadow underneath.

"In a dark place inside the Hall," she chanted with Draco as she realized what he meant. "Of course! Let´s go look."

Draco grinned at her enthusiasm, seeming more himself already as he stood up to follow her.

"Feeling better already?" she teased as they walked towards the corner.

"Actually, I am. Nothing cheers a fellow up more than a pretty face." he winked, smiling broadly when he saw the rosy blush that crept up her cheek at his unexpected compliment.

Ginny smiled back at him, trying desperately to calm her racing heart and still the sudden longing she felt to be in his arms. She suddenly recollected the night before on the staircase when he had caught her in his arms. How things had changed since then, all in mere hours! The warm memory almost overcame her and she had to force herself back to the business at hand. This was not a time to be daydreaming.

Without saying anything else, they arrived at the corner together, and Ginny paused in contemplation. Okay, so it was a corner. A bit darker then the rest of the room, but there seemed to be nothing significant about it other than that. An old armored knight presided there, it´s metal clearly ancient and dull. Funny, but she never remembered seeing that there before...

She glanced over at Draco, who shook his head, confirming her suspicions. It hadn´t been there before.

The words seemed to spring into Ginny´s mind unbidden, and as she realized what they might mean her excitement mounted.

Rushing over, she began looking the armor over for any signs of rust. Old as it appeared to be, she could find nothing at first.

Upon closer inspection, Ginny discovered that towards the bottom, right behind the figure´s right foot, there was a square patch of rust, immediately observable from her new vantage point on the ground because of it´s complete contrast to the rest of the silver metal. However, anyone who wasn´t specifically looking for it would probably never have seen it.

"I think I found something," Ginny told Draco, who had come to stand beside her, his expression a mixture of curiosity and doubt.

"Let´s see it then." His tone held the smallest stirrings of excitement, and Ginny suddenly realized that they were both acting almost as if this was a game. It seemed like a game. And Ginny was a little surprised to find that she was enjoying it.

Upon hearing Draco´s approval, Ginny carefully put her finger in the center of the square of rust and pressed slightly.

It was enough. There was a soft grating sound, and then silence.

Ginny picked herself up from the floor, looking skeptically at the wall, still firmly in position. "Umm... Draco, did I miss something?" She had thought the wall would move or disappear, or something, but it didn´t appear to have changed at all.

Draco was about to answer her when a faint shimmer about halfway up the wall caught his eye, causing him to stare at it, intrigued. Without bothering to answer Ginny aloud, he pointed to a spot about halfway up the wall.

Following his direction, Ginny immediately looked up and was surprised to find that something had happened after all. A small door had opened in the wall, and something inside seemed to be causing the light to shimmer and reflect strangely. That must have been how Draco spotted it, she thought, because if it weren´t for that, neither of them would probably have noticed it. It looked just wide enough for the two of them to fit through side by side, but the ceiling was so low that they would most assuredly have to crawl.

"Okay, so we found the "hidden wall". Now how do we get up there?"

Draco glanced towards her quickly. "I´ve no idea."

" Excuse me?" Ginny asked plaintively, "Aren´t you supposed to be the Slytherin here? Sly, cunning, and ingenious plan-maker?"

"I´m having an off day," he replied, grinning slightly at her expression. "Sue me."

"That might not be such a bad idea..." Ginny began playfully, but trailed off as she thought of something that might work. "Do you think we could take turns raising each other up there with the Levitating Spell?"

"No," Draco rejected the proposal firmly. "Wingardium Leviosa is only used for small objects."

"Okay...what about that spell that makes a rope come out of the end of your wand and allows you to direct it to wherever you need it to go?"

"I´ve got a better idea," Draco told her smugly. "How about a ladder?"

"That could work," Ginny conceded sheepishly as Draco smirked. "Where do we get one?"

"I´ve seen one kept in the Quidditch shed before."

"Let´s go get it."

"We´ll have to ask permission." Draco didn´t look too happy at the thought.

"No, I´ll ask for permission to get the ladder, you meet me at the shed," Ginny told him after a few seconds inward debate. That would give him time to maybe sit down and rest a bit before she got back, she had decided. And whether he would admit it or not, he looked like he could use the break. There was a look of tiredness evident in his eyes that most people wouldn´t even notice, but Ginny had been around him enough now to recognize it for herself. He was worn out.

Her tone didn´t invite argument, so Draco gave none. "Alright. Meet you there."

They walked out of the Great Hall and into the corridor together, then parted. Ginny turned to make her way to Dumbledore´s office, and Draco swung open the door to the Grounds.