The Soul Keeper

Chapter 18: Searching

Not sure what to do, but knowing he had to do something, Draco raced back towards the castle and straight to Dumbledore's office. While he had never actually been sent there before, he had long ago taken it upon himself to know it's location just in case he needed it. This was just such an incident.

The door was open only a few moments after he had began pounding on it by Dumbledore himself. The old man was wearing a long white nightgown that reached his feet and had little bunny rabbits all over it. If the situation hadn't been so serious Draco knew he would have burst out laughing.

Instead, face grim, he poured out the details of what had happened.

Dumbledore listened to Draco's explanation without interrupting him. The further along he got in his story, however, the graver his face became.

"We'll search for her at once," Dumbledore told him. "I'll get the teachers gathered and we'll begin immediately."

Draco let out a relieved breath. "Okay...what can I do?"

"You," Dumbledore told him with a rare show of intimidation that he rarely used on anyone except in the most dire circumstances, "Must get back and finish the potion."

"What?!!" Draco gaped. The old fool had to be joking. Did he really expect him to go off and make that potion as though nothing had happened? Ginny was missing for God's sake!

Dumbledore took in Draco's outburst without any change in sentiment. "There is no time to waste. Go."

Draco thought about protesting again, but decided that it wouldn't do any good. The Headmaster had made up his mind. Cursing mentally, Draco turned to go.

Before he reached the door however, something made him look back. "You've got to find her Headmaster." Even Draco was surprised at the amount of pain and feeling that half-whispered sentence held.

Dumbledore's face softened. "We will, Draco, we will."

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But they didn't. The whole time the teachers were out searching, Draco watched from the window of the deserted classroom that he and Ginny had decided to use while the potion was brewing.

He watched, as after ten minutes of useless searching, an owl was sent to the Ministry of Magic requesting help.

And he was still watching over half an hour later when a group of Ministry officials showed up.

The potion was just done by that time, and Draco filled the small vile with the steaming liquid and capped it. There, he had done what Dumbledore told him to do. No matter that it had served absolutely no purpose.

He was now free of the order that held him to the room. Without a second thought he put the vile of liquid into his pocket and raced down the stairs and out of the castle, straight over to where the Headmaster stood talking to some of the officials. They didn't look happy.

"Please," Draco almost begged, his heart still racing and blood pounding at the terrifying thoughts of what could even now be happening to Ginny. " You've got to let me help."

Dumbledore's face registered compassion for him as he glanced towards the boy, now almost a man, who stood before him. But he still shook his head.

The faces of the ministry officials showed no such concern, only annoyance at having their work interrupted.

"Get out of here, kid. This is official business," one of them told him superiorly, not even bothering to look up from his papers.

That was all it took to make Draco go from being almost as weak as a whimpering child to an imperious commander. " Don't you dare patronize me like I'm some innocent little child. I'll let you know I can have you fired before you even realize what's coming," Draco spat out disgustedly, raising his head higher so that the distant light from the school fell upon him, illuminating the silver-blonde of his hair and making his gray eyes look dangerously malicious.

The two officials looked up then. "Mr. Malfoy," stammered the one who had spoken to him before, "I had no idea..." He gulped nervously and glanced over at his companion, who looked just as nervous as he did. "Of course you can help."

That was what Draco had been waiting for, and with rigid nod, he looked over at Dumbledore, triumph in his eyes.

He had thought the Headmaster might protest or say something to keep him from helping with the search, but the old man just sighed, a twinkle of amusement in his somber eyes. "Very well, you may help."

"Where have they searched?" he asked, directing his question more to the ministry officials than the Headmaster. They seemed more likely to know.

But it was Dumbledore who answered. "Everywhere on the Grounds. Wherever Miss Weasley has disappeared to, or was taken," he added before Draco could protest to Ginny's having run away, "is not on Hogwart's land. They are now preparing to widen the search."

Draco was thinking furiously, trying to determine what their best chance of finding her was. He was inclined to think that if they weren't on Hogwarts' Grounds or in the immediately surrounding area, they were too far away for a ground or air search to be useful.

She had to have been taken using magic and force; that was the only thing Draco could think of. Ginny wouldn't have gone willingly with anyone, and the way she had disappeared was too quiet and quick for it to have been a regular kidnapping. No, there was something important, something he was missing.

Deciding that his best bet was probably to go back to where Ginny had originally disappeared and search for clues, he excused himself from the group and headed that way. There had to be something.

And then, he had it; a wisp of an idea coming and going so quick that at first Draco couldn't catch onto it. Then his memory sharpened, and he remembered that day over a month ago when he had raced up to the Gryffindor common room to make sure Ginny was there. That time, she had been, but now it didn't look as if it would be so easy. And Draco now had a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach telling him he knew why.

A voice asked. Shocked and anxious for Ginny's safety as he was, Draco had no trouble finding the energy to be angry.

"What have you done with her?!!"

Why, nothing. Yet.

Draco's anger doubled at having his suspicions confirmed, and now every fiber of his being was shaking with rage. "Bring her back!"

Back? The voice taunted innocently. Whatever do you mean? What would I possibly want to do that for?

" Because if you don't, I'll...I'll," Draco was so furious he couldn't even come up with a good threat and his words were left hanging hollowly in the air.

Salazar laughed, the faint echo racing through Draco's head. You'll do nothing, if I do not wish it.

Draco began to feel sick. He thought he knew where this was heading. He was right.

Draco's hand shot up into the air and held there, no matter how hard Draco tried to bring it down. He was doing it. Controlling him as if he were a puppet. Draco fought uselessly. Somehow, Slytherin had gathered enough strength to take control of his entire body now the moment he wanted to. And Draco was powerless to stop him.

Sensing this, he stopped trying to fight, focusing instead on getting as much information as possible from the opportunity. "Where did you take Ginny?"

If Salazar had been able to take human form Draco knew without a doubt he would have been smiling triumphantly then.

Old acquaintance? What the hell was this power-mad monster onto now?

Draco's mind had already been working overtime. The necklace fell into his hands before coming to him, staunch supporter of the Dark Arts, though Draco had never realized he was playing two sides before. That could only be one person...

The word was spoken by Draco and Salazar at the same time. So this was how Ginny had been taken. Obviously kidnapping a young girl wasn't something that the trapped wizard could do alone. He had to have outside help.

Draco just wished he had thought of his father before hand. Maybe, if Lucius had really done the kidnapping, or even if some of his men had done it, there was still time...

Draco didn't waste anymore time trying to figure the rest out. There would be plenty of time for that once he was in the air.

Hope kindling in his heart, he raced for his dorm room and his broomstick. Maybe he could get to her after all.

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Ginny watched, tears in her eyes as the search for her continued. Why couldn't they see her?!! She was right in front of them, held captive only by two large brutes that couldn't have been missed if they were camouflaged and the searchers were blind!

Terrified of not being found, she watched as person after person walked by their hiding place, hoping against hope that someone would see her. It was of no use. The searchers walked right past them, their eyes sliding away from the spot where Ginny crouched, forcefully held there by the hands of her two captors.

She struggled when one man walked so close that his cloak brushed her leg as he walked past, trying vainly to get a sound past her bound lips and catch his attention.

But nothing worked. They could not see her. The spell of unseeing-ness that had been placed around them was too strong and well concealed for even the ministry officials to detect.

At one point, she had looked up when a door had slammed; hope rising in her when she realized that it was Draco. But even that too, disappeared, when he joined the many others who simply couldn't see her.

Ginny watched him the whole time he was in her line of sight. She was even one of the few who saw him come racing out of Hogwarts with his broomstick and then fly up into the night sky and out over the forest.

Where was he going?

Her captors never spoke to her, didn't give her any scrap of information that might help her escape, or to at least figure out exactly who wanted her and for what.

For the longest time, they sat in complete silence, the only movement the regular motion of tears as they slipped down Ginny's face.

Hours passed, and a gleam of light began to appear in the eastern sky. And still they stayed.

Finally, when the last ministry official had left, Ginny felt a tug on her arms and she allowed herself to be pulled numbly to her feet. At first, she couldn't stand; she had been sitting so long that her feet and legs had fallen asleep. Her only support came from the two hulking figures beside her, each with one hand under her arms. After a few minutes, she regained feeling and was able to walk where they led.

She no longer resisted; it wouldn't do any good. Instead, she sank into a kind of depressed thoughtlessness, all hope lost. Mindlessly, she followed them across the piece of ground that marked the border of Hogwarts' land and on a little farther. Ginny noted absently that they were heading west, but what did it matter what direction they went?

Soon enough they stopped, and her arms were grasped even more firmly. Even in the light of day Ginny couldn't tell who the men were through the cloaks they had tightly wrapped around them. They looked at each other and nodded.

Before Ginny could comprehend what they were planning, she heard a slight popping sound, and then the ground fell out from under her.

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Two hours later, Draco arrived at the Manor. It was a spacious place, situated on a large hill with smaller, rolling hills leading off in every direction except for behind the house. That area was covered with the tall, menacing trees of the Forbidden Forest. Even here, miles away from the section of the forest at Hogwarts, Draco could see a distinct likeness in them. No, more like sense. There was an atmosphere about the forest that sank into your bones and ate away at your very soul.

It was also the forest that Draco had been flying over for what seemed like forever. When he finally left it's dark presence behind it was with much relief and good-riddance. He had always had a dislike, almost a fear of that forest ever since his first year when he had been forced to take that stupid trip into it with Potter, Granger, and that sniveling idiot. What was his name? Oh yes, Neville.

And why shouldn't he, after what he had seen? It wasn't every day that a unicorn blood-drinking monster jumped out at you was it? Especially when that blood-sucking monster also happened to be, at least in some sense, the evilest wizard to ever have existed.

Well, actually, now that Draco had met Slytherin, Voldemort seemed like a fly compared to a spider. Child's play.

His reflections came to an end when he landed, the green grassy slope of the well-cultivated lawn rising up to meet him. If it wasn't for the circumstances, Draco thought it would almost have been good to be home. He had played here so often as a young child that he missed it when he was gone.

The place itself, that is. He could never really miss the other people who lived there, for how could you miss something you didn't care about? However, now that he was here, there was one particular person he had a mind to see.

"Father!" he called as he raced up the stairs and into the house. "I want to talk to you! Now!"

There was no answer, only the steady sound of a piano being played somewhere in the house. That meant his mother was practicing, as usual.

Narcissa Malfoy was constantly doing something she liked to call "productive". Playing instruments, working in her garden, reading textbooks...and up until a few years ago she had constantly been on Draco's back to do the same. She had finally given up in desperation after he had cursed the living daylight out of his piano teacher in frustration when he was fourteen. The man had had to have his memory of the event erased, as well as the counter-curse preformed. And he had still ended up in a hospital. Even as a child, when Draco Malfoy cursed someone it was no laughing matter.

He raced towards the music room, hoping his father might be there. Heaven knew why he would be, Lucius hated Narcissa's music playing with a passion, but since he wasn't in his office Draco could think of nowhere better to look.

He reached the room, and finding the door already partway open, stuck his head stealthily inside. Except for his mother sitting at the piano as he had expected, the room was empty.

He turned around quietly to go look somewhere else and was brought to an abrupt halt when he ran right into the powerful form of Lucius Malfoy.

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Ginny came back to consciousness slowly, aware only of the pain in her head and the awkward position she found herself lying in. Then memory rushed back.

"Someone is not very good at apparating," she mumbled to herself as she tried to open her eyes. Bright sunlight splashed into them and she was forced to close them again instantly. "And someone turn the light off."

"My, don't we have a sense of humor this morning," an unpleasantly cheerful voice chirped. " I'm glad you decided to wake up, I was afraid they had accidentally killed you somehow. That would have been such a waste. And much less fun than what we've got planned now."

That voice. Something about it was familiar. Ginny was sure she recognized it from somewhere.

Cracking her eyes open again, she waited until they had adjusted and tried to scan the room through her cloudy vision.

There. In the corner...

Ginny opened her eyes wider, forcing her aching muscles to move her into a sitting position.

A low laugh sounded, and it was this that finally helped Ginny trace the voice. Just when she had it figured out, a small, lithe figure appeared out of the darkness, grinning like she was a cat who had just caught the prized mouse, to confirm her suspicion.

"Pansy."

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Draco jumped back into a defensive position, pushing the door open behind him and bursting into the music room, where Mrs. Malfoy immediately fell silent at the intrusion and turned the see what was happening.

Draco's reaction was more in surprise than actual fear of his father. He had no time for fear now. Straightening immediately, he walked forward until he stood directly in front of Lucius, meeting his father's eye more boldly than he'd ever done before.

"Where is she?" He forced the question out between jaws that were clenched in anger.

"Where's who?" Lucius asked innocently, not acting the least bit surprised to see his son home a day before holidays began. "Lost one of your little girlfriends have you?"

Lucius's mocking tone only served to increase Draco's anger, and it was only with great self-control that he restrained himself from murdering his father right then and there. He could do that later, but first, he needed information.

"You know who I'm talking about, now where is she?" Draco's voice was low and dangerous, and for a split second a look of surprised shock at his son's behavior registered on Lucius's face before he could conceal it with a smirk.

" I'll admit, I do have some idea of who you might be talking about, but I didn't know..." he trailed off in thought. "Of course." Lucius chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny?"

"Why, you think she's here, don't you?" Lucius eyed his son mockingly. "I thought I'd taught you better than that."

What was he talking about? Draco's heart sped up in nervous agitation. He couldn't mean...but it was possible...

Lucius watched the realization dawn in his son's eyes, and then he grinned. "Yes, I think you were certainly mislead."

As soon as his father said the words, Draco knew they must be true. He had a knack for knowing when his father was telling the truth or not, and right now, for the first time in what was probably a very long period, Draco sensed not one lie.

And it made since too. Why would Salazar send him directly to Ginny so that he would have a chance of rescuing her? If Draco had been thinking clearly before, he would have realized that it was too easy.

Well, no more mistakes. Draco took a deep, calming breath and let his anger flow out of him. He would not be able to think rationally with so much rage boiling inside him. And that was what he needed to do most. Think.

So Salazar had led him here, obviously to keep him from guessing Ginny's real destination. This was a distraction, a side trip. Completely useless.

The question was what did he do now? Fortunately, there was only one option.

"She might not be here, but you know where she's been taken. And I want to know." Draco narrowed his eyes at his father, trying hard to appear intimidating.

Lucius only laughed. "Why don't you ask your little friend there," he said, indicating the necklace. "Since he was so helpful the first time."

Draco's fists clenched and unclenched in frustration. There had to be some way to get the information he wanted. Maybe...maybe if...But would it work?

There was only one way to find out.

Lips pressed firmly together and determination shining in his face, Draco pulled out his wand before Lucius could react and did something Lucius would never have expected.

Raising his wand arm towards the window and with barely a grimace on his otherwise stone hard face, Draco recited the spell that would send the Dark Mark shooting into the sky.

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A/N: Evil cliffy huh? Yeah, well, I happen to be good at those, as most of you know. I won't tell you much about the next chapter; you'll just have to wait to find out what happens. *grins evilly* Thanks to all my reviewers, and hopefully, future reviewers in advance!