The Soul Keeper

Chapter 16: Figuring it Out

It was some time later that Ginny returned to the Common room where an anxious Hermione was waiting for her. As soon as Ginny walked into the room she found herself being walked into a corner and standing while Hermione's measuring gaze seemed to run right through her.

Finally, Hermione gave a slight nod, satisfied. "It's okay then." Without another word, the seventh year turned to go but Ginny grabbed her arm.

"What's okay?"

"You and Malfoy. I wanted to make sure that you would be able to work together without taking each other's heads off." She smiled slightly at Ginny's inquiring look. "And you can."

Ginny stared, open mouthed. "You could tell that just by looking at me?"

Hermione's grin widened, and she patted Ginny on the arm. "I know you better than you think."

Ginny couldn't think of anything intelligent to say to that. "Yeah right," came to mind, but that would be rude, and besides, after what she'd just done, Hermione had to know something.

The seventh year didn't act at all put out by Ginny's lack of answer. "I'm going to bed now," she said with a yawn, "you probably should too."

Ginny nodded at the typical Hermione remark and relaxed, following after her up the stairs, her mind already back on the challenge. She was only about halfway up when Hermione came bounding back down, smiling sheepishly. "Forgot my book," she said by way of explanation.

Ginny shook her head and grinned, continuing on to her room.

At the bottom of the stairs, Hermione turned around and pointed her wand at Ginny's retreating figure, softly chanting the words of a spell. "Just in case," she told herself softly, "just in case."

The month passed quickly, far more quickly than either Draco or Ginny had expected. Their first challenge kept them busy almost constantly, and the added load of their regular homework made them fall into bed late each night, completely worn out, only to have to wake early in the morning and start the whole routine over. It was enough to drive anyone crazy, but Draco and Ginny managed to keep going, constantly turning to each other for motivation.

When one of them started feeling depressed and frustrated, the other would be there to cheer them up and get them back into the game.

As the days passed, they spent more and more time together doing research and homework, and the new comradeship between them made even these long hours spent together in silence comfortable.

While their friendship and mutual respect for one another progressed, their budding romance did not. They still liked each other of course, but when Draco discovered that Ginny might just not be ready to take their relationship to the next level yet, he decided not to press it. The few reserves he himself had also helped the idea. No matter how much he liked the girl, there was always a part of him whispering that their relationship could never be.

Draco and Ginny spent most of their waking hours in the library. Even with the constant research and brainstorming, it was a long time before they eventually made the discovery that would help complete their challenge.

It was yet another cold, dreary day, the sky overcast and there was a slight fog creeping over the Grounds. Not completely unheard of for October. Draco and Ginny were sitting in the library, slowly and methodically skimming through page after page of scientific based textbooks, still trying to discover exactly how to predict which way the rainbows would shine on the walls when a certain diamond was turned a certain way. They had already learned every spell on levitation and rotation by heart, as well as some less common spells for freezing objects or parts of objects for a specific amount of time. They had also tried to complete the challenge the practical way, just moving the diamonds around by hand at different times of the day to see if they would cast the needed star shaped rainbow. It was after that had failed that they hit the books. And they were still at it even now.

"Tick, tick tick..." The soft sound of the library clock seemed magnified to Ginny's ears after sitting for so long in the otherwise complete silence. Irritated, she drew her eyes away from the open library book on the table in front of her and threw a dark glance in the direction of the clock. "Shut up." She told it, just loud enough to be heard by Draco but without attracting too much attention.

To her surprise, the ticking seemed to hesitate, then stop, and the two small circles carved into the clocks design suddenly opened, casting an indignant look towards Ginny. "Well! I never..." it told her haughtily before closing its eyes again and ignoring her.

But the ticking stopped.

Ginny bit her lip at the chastisement, but she couldn't help grinning. When she turned to Draco to see if he had been paying attention, his eyes were also laughing at her. It was probably the most interesting thing that had happened all day.

Ginny turned back to her book, but with chagrin she realized she really didn't feel like studying anymore.

"Draco, I can't take any more today. Let's take a break, okay?" she asked him pleadingly. If she had to look at one more paragraph about light she thought she'd faint with terror.

"No," Draco disagreed calmly, his eyes never leaving the book he had turned back to after the clock incident. "You know how much work we have to do, and we only have until this Monday to complete our challenge. That's three days, Gin. Today, tomorrow, and Sunday, and that's it. We've got to concentrate."

"I can't!" Ginny exclaimed exasperatedly, slamming the cover of her book closed. Why couldn't he understand? "If I have to look at one more book on the principles of light, I'm going to throw up!"

Draco slowly raised his eyes from the book, a sigh on his lips. "Fine," he told her. " If you feel that strongly about it, you can take a break. You have my permission."

"Gee, thanks," Ginny replied sarcastically, an overly sweet smile on her face. As if she needed his permission. She started to walk towards the exit when she noticed that Draco was still sitting at the table where she had left him, the book now moved to his lap. "Aren't you coming?"

"I said you could take a break. I'm going to stay here and study. In fact, if it's the sight of books you hate so much, why don't you go on back to the Rainbow Room and try your hand? Maybe you'll get lucky and actually place them in the right spot." His gaze was inquiring and a bit hopeful.

And Ginny could have spit on him for it. Here he was, the good little student, determined to finish his homework in time and she was begging off. Well, if making her feel guilty was what Draco had intended to do in order to get her to do something useful, it worked.

"All right, I'll go. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

Draco finally looked up from his book, his cloudy gray eyes raised to meet hers. A huge grin forming on his face, Draco winked at her, his formerly somber mood disappearing.

Ginny rolled her eyes, wondering why she allowed herself to be talked into these things, but delighted none the less at the wink he had given her. She had thought she was in love with him before, but over the last month she had realized she didn't know what love was. When Draco had respected her decision to keep their relationship where it was and not push her, her respect for him had increased tremendously. And the way he was so nice to her now made her heart leap every time she thought about it. He was definitely growing on her, that was for sure.

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When she finally made it back into the Rainbow Room, as they had nicknamed it, she didn't immediately fulfill her promise to Draco and start working on the diamonds. Instead, she allowed herself to wonder over to stand in front of the mirror.

And there he was, standing beside her as he always was, except this time Draco had his arm wrapped snugly around her waist and he was holding her tight, a happy smile on his face. And she was smiling too. There was more happiness radiated in this one reflection than she had ever seen in Draco, or could remember ever feeling herself. It was mesmerizing.

For the thousandth time, she found herself wondering just what kind of mirror this was, to reflect something that wasn't there, nor had ever been there. Magical, obviously, but other than that, Ginny had no idea.

She had often gazed into it before, trying to figure out how it worked, but no explanation had ever presented itself. Not even Draco was certain how it worked.

The most he could do was read the inscription that was carved delicately around the top. Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

Whatever that meant. Ginny shivered, remembering the look on Draco's face when he had read it. He had stiffened and looked troubled, but when Ginny had asked him what was wrong he had denied anything being amiss and dropped the subject. He had even refused to tell her what the words meant.

With a sigh, she bent herself to the miserable task of arranging and rearranging the sparkling rocks in different patterns. Maybe Draco was right. Maybe she would get lucky.

But it quickly became apparent that there just wasn't enough sunlight at all to do anything. With the sky so cloudy, very little light was coming in through the windows to make the rainbows. She had no chance of opening the secret door today.

No, that wasn't true. Maybe she could use her wand.

She wasn't sure if that would be enough light, but she decided to try it anyway. Backing up as far as she could against the windows, she whispered the spell to make her wand light up and then turned it towards the hanging diamonds.

Nothing.

"Darn it!" she muttered forcefully, stamping her foot in frustration. She had been so sure that it would work, or maybe just so hopeful.

Whatever the case, she had just whirled around to face the mirror, wand in hand and determined to focus her stormy glare on something when she heard the noise. A soft grating sound was coming from behind her.

At first she thought it must be Draco coming in through the door, but when she heard no movement or words being spoken, she looked over her shoulder curiously.

And gaped in surprise.

There on the wall behind her was a perfect star, the rainbow colors splashed over the wall to form it's six points in a fantastic display. And in the center of the star, a small door no bigger than a library book had opened up. Ginny was speechless.

How had it happened? She hadn't even been facing the diamonds with her wand. She had been turned towards the mirror.

Wait, that was it. The mirror.

It all made sense now. When she had turned and looked into the mirror, her wand had still been lit up. Somehow, in its unintelligible way of doing things, when the light had been shined into the mirror, it had made the rainbows appear in just the right place, at just the right time. Almost the same way as with the chair and the note. All that she and Draco had done was look into the mirror and it had appeared when they'd needed it. This time, Ginny had simply shined a light in it and what she had been looking for happened.

Absolutely amazing.

"I have got to have one of these at home," she joked out loud.

"One of what?"

Draco's head poked suddenly through the doorway, his blond hair falling across his forehead and giving him just the right "tough boy" look to make Ginny's heart do somersaults when she observed him.

"Hey, wait a minute! How'd you do it?"

Draco had finally gotten far enough through the doorway to observe what had happened. "I'm impressed," he told her, a low whistle of amazement escaping him as he climbed the rest of the way out. There was such a look of appreciation on his face that Ginny couldn't help but smile proudly, even though she knew she hadn't really done anything except by accident.

Catching her look, Draco felt his eyebrows rise automatically. "Guess I don't have to drag you back down to the library for more studying, do I?" he remarked ironically.

"Guess not," Ginny replied good-naturedly. "It looks like I've just solved our problem."

Without waiting to see what he would say, she walked over to wall where the new door was, the star fading as she turned the light on her wand out. Reaching carefully inside the wall, her hand closed over the only thing inside.

A small gold coin.

Draco had followed her over and watched as she held the coin up to her face, examining it closely. There seemed to be nothing significant about it. No markings or inscriptions at all. After a moment, she handed it to Draco, who stuck it carefully in the inside pocket of his robe.

"Don't lose it," Ginny warned, her voice teasing but serious at the same time. Who knew what they would have to do to get another one?

"Yes, ma'am," Draco mocked, deciding to get her back for the time when she had referred to him as "Sir".

Ginny obviously recalled what he was doing, and blushed slightly. So maybe she had been a little over enthusiastic.

"Is that a blush I see, Weasley?" he teased. "It's been a while since you did that, I forgot how pretty it was on you."

This remark, of course, caused Ginny to blush all the more. She looked away embarrassed, but Draco just laughed.

"Come on, let's take one last good look at this place and get out of here. We've got some celebrating to do."

Ginny's eyes brightened at the idea, and she nodded eagerly. "Yes, we do."

"Starting with putting all those books we got out in the library back up."

If looks could kill, Draco would have been six feet under in the two seconds it took for him to reach down and take her hand in his, raising it gently to his lips.

"Just kidding." He kissed the back of her hand gently, and Ginny shivered at the sensation. His touch had suddenly become like magic.

The thought had been weighing in her mind for most of the month now, constantly demanding her attention. Ever since the day on the ladder when she had realized just how scared she really was of committing herself to someone, the fear had grown inside her. She loved the way Draco was acting towards her now, so sweet and considerate, but what if he suddenly decided he wanted more and she couldn't handle it? The thought was eating away at her.

Not only that, but if she did decide to commit herself to him and make their relationship public, what would the rest of the school think? What would her parents think? Could she really do that to them? Should she even risk it when she still didn't know exactly where Draco stood and whether it would even work at all?

Ginny wasn't sure, and the uncertainty plagued her.

Which was why when she saw Draco's eyes darken and she knew he was about to kiss her, she pulled away abruptly and headed towards the door.

"Let's get out of here."

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Draco stood, staring at the small door that Ginny had disappeared through silently. She had pulled away from him. Why? Hadn't she wanted him to kiss her?

He had thought, the way she had looked at him that they were finally starting to get somewhere. Obviously he was wrong. When she had walked away, uncertainty was written all over her face, as easily read as the books they had been pouring over for weeks.

Had he done something wrong? The thought irritated him, but try as he might, he couldn't think what.

But what had he expected? He didn't exactly trust her as much as he should either.

However slightly, or unconsciously, they were both holding back, and nothing more could happen until that invisible barrier was removed.

They reached the Quidditch shed and Draco put up the ladder, returning to stand silently beside Ginny. Neither of them wanted to return to the castle just yet, but they didn't really know what to say either. For the first time in weeks, the silence was tense and awkward.

After a few moments of quiet, Draco spoke up. "Look, we both need a break, let's just head back to our own common rooms and relax for a while or something, okay?" he asked, running a hand agitatedly through his hair. What he was really saying was, "Let's split up so we both have a chance to think things through".

And Ginny couldn't have agreed more. There was a lot to think about.

They walked back to the castle together, Draco leaving her at the steps leading up to the Gryffindor tower and making his own way down towards the dungeons.

He didn't turn into the Slytherin common room though; he walked right past it and on down the corridor. After about a dozen feet or so he came to another door. He took this one, opening and closing it silently behind him as he glanced around the room.

Good, there was no one else there.

This room was almost like his own secret hide-away. Very few people knew of it's existence, including Professor Snape, and Blaise Zabini, one of Draco's few respected peers, if not friends.

Draco used it more than either of them.

As he set down in the single chair by the fireplace, he fingered the necklace idly, his thoughts inevitably turning in that direction, though he had originally come there to think about Ginny. It had been over a month since he'd last heard from the mysterious spirit of Salazar Slytherin, and when he had time to think about it, Slytherin's continued silence worried him. It was almost like the calm before the storm.

The phantom's last words kept playing over and over in his head as he sat watching the flames leap absently.

It was almost a threat, those last words of his, and as he sat there in that chair, Draco couldn't help but wonder what it meant.

Okay, so here lately he felt a lot better, was in more of a lighter mood when he was around Ginny-

But Salazar couldn't possibly mean her, could he? Draco tensed at the thought, the muscles in his jaw twitching uncontrollably. No, he couldn't possibly...

But you could never be too sure.

Decided, Draco jumped from his chair and raced out of the room, back to Gryffindor Tower. Ginny would already be inside of course, but maybe if he pounded on the door hard enough someone would hear him and open it.

His persistence paid off, because after hammering on the portrait of the fat lady for several minutes, during which he suffered a constant stream of insults that he pointedly ignored, the door finally swung open and the irritated face of Hermione Granger peered out at him from beneath a mound of chestnut hair.

" Malfoy?" she gaped.

" Is Gin-I mean, is Weasley in there?" he asked anxiously.

" Which one?" Hermione replied interestedly, obviously catching his slip of tongue.

"Ginny."

Hermione looked at him suspiciously. "What do you want to know for?"

"Just tell me if she's in there or not, Granger." Draco was starting to get impatient. Couldn't she see how important this was?

Apparently, Hermione did, and though she was still suspicious, she answered him. "Yes, she came in not very long ago, from studying with you, I thought. Weren't you just with her?"

Draco nodded, too relieved to give much of an answer. "Thanks, Granger," he muttered without realizing it as he turned away from the door.

Hermione's jaw dropped in surprise before she recovered enough to say softly to his retreating figure as he descended the stairs, "You're welcome."

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