The Soul Keeper

Chapter 19: Foolish Hopes...?

"Pansy," Ginny repeated aloud, almost as though she were talking to herself. " What do you want with me?"

The older girl grinned sardonically and there was a malicious glint in her eye. "Unfortunately, you're not here by my design. Rest assured that if you were, you wouldn't have still been breathing even ten seconds after you woke up."

Yep, Ginny sensed a definite current of malevolence running across the room from where the seventh year Slytherin stood to herself.

Why? That was what confused her. The two had never even done more than vaguely acknowledge one another's presence, so how could Ginny have done something to tick Pansy off at her?

After a few moments considering what she had been told, Ginny raised her eyes as she struggled to stand up from the floor and spoke again. "If you aren't behind this than who is?"

Pansy smiled again, but this time the look of pure evil shining from her made Ginny's blood run cold.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Pansy taunted.

"Yes, I would," Ginny replied calmly, "That's why I asked." She tried to play it smooth; pretend that she wasn't bothered in the least by her sudden capture and imprisonment. She just hoped that Pansy couldn't see the fear in her eyes or hear it in her voice. She thought she was hiding it pretty well, using some of the technique she'd picked up from Draco, but she couldn't be sure.

Pansy stared back at the other girl, eyes narrowed. "You've been watching Draco." Apparently Pansy had noticed the similarity of her facial expressions to his. God knows she had probably watched Draco enough to know them by heart. Everyone knew that Pansy had a thing for Draco, and everyone knew just as well that Draco was only using her.

Somehow, thinking of Draco gave her a strength she'd never known she possessed. Earlier, when they had dragged her away from Hogwarts, she had given up all hope. Now, with just the thought of Draco in her mind, Ginny knew she couldn't give up. Not until things had been resolved between them. She didn't know what she'd say when, if, she saw him again, but she did know they had to talk.

Ginny didn't reply to Pansy's last comment, choosing to ignore it and focus on the real issue at hand. "Well, who's holding me captive?"

"Oh, no one you know," Pansy said with an overly sweet smile. "Just an old friend of mine."

Was Ginny hearing things or had Pansy purposely emphasized the "old" part?

"Could you at least give me a name?"

Pansy was walking around the room now, and though Ginny followed her every move with calculating eyes, she did not turn when Pansy walked around behind her, clearly trying to unnerve the sixth year. It didn't work. Using another trick she had observed Draco using numerous times, she made her eyes go cold and her face harden, stubbornly remaining facing forwards.

This seemed only to increase Pansy's dislike of her, and with a haughty air, the girl stepped back around in front of her. "I could, but I won't. You'll find out soon enough, Weasel."

"Really?" Ginny asked, trying hard to feign wide-eyes curiosity. "Is he-or she- coming here?" Inwardly, she was battling for control of herself. After seeing Draco play act so many times, she had assumed it was easy. Now she knew better. It was one of the hardest things she'd ever done in her life. Part of her wanted to just lash out and give Pansy a good beating for her arrogant, holier-than-thou attitude, but another part of her wanted to break down into tears at her heartless insults and maliciousness. What had Ginny ever done to her?

But after a moment of consideration, these thoughts only hardened her determination. She would not cry, and she would not lash out in anger, at least not when it wouldn't accomplish anything. Instead, she would remain cool and unaffected. Perhaps she would be able to glean some information that way. And it also had the total advantage of being completely unexpected.

But Pansy's next words caught her off guard and made all her well-laid plans go flying out the window.

"Not him, per se, but Draco is."

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Lucius Malfoy gaped right along side his wife at the perfect pale green image of the Dark Mark hovering in the sky. His face whiter now than Draco had ever seen it, he turned furiously to Draco.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! And how did you know how to do it at all?!!"

Draco couldn't help the arrogant smirk that crept over his face at the wrath of his father. This was almost fun.

"Come now, father, you must know that I was always brighter than the average child. Why would I wait to be taught how to do something when I could learn from observation myself?"

Lucius's face reddened. His father, embarrassed? No, probably just angry. Either way, this was turning out to be quite a show. "Why you smug little son of a bitch! How dare you speak to me that way. I'll...I'll..."

"You'll what father? Strangle me? Toss me to the dementors? I think not. Not after I explain to all your little death eater friends whose side you're really on. Maybe even Voldemort himself.

Lucius looked as if he was going to be sick, and Narcissa looked outright terrified.

Turning to his mother, Draco said calmly, but without sympathy, "I think you should leave. Now."

It was a warning, and Narcissa knew it. Without another word and without looking back, she raced for the door and ran out.

"I'll rip you to pieces, boy," Lucius spat at him once his wife was gone. "Your as good as dead right now."

"I don't know about that," Draco replied icily, amusement shining from his face. "If you kill me, then how will you explain the Mark? It will still be there, and if I'm gone, people will think you did it. Not only will the death eaters and Voldemort be mad because they think you summoned them for nothing, but the Ministry will want to have words as well."

Only now did Lucius begin to see the trap he had fallen into.

"Now," Draco continued. "You can give me the information I want, quickly and accurately, or you can stand here arguing while all your friends show up, only to be told the truth about where your real allegiance belongs." Without one trace of sympathy or regret Draco uttered the last word and tightened the noose on his previously unsuspecting father. "Do we have a deal?"

Lucius's hands clenched and unclenched, his jaws tightened in rage. But there was no way out of the trap he had allowed himself to be led into, and he knew it.

"Fine," he agreed. "But take down the Mark first."

"The information," Draco demanded, his wand held high to imply that he would get rid of the Mark the moment he learned what he wanted.

His father was in no position to argue, and without another protest, the information was spit at Draco with more menace than a dragon could have offered.

"Thanks," Draco offered as he dropped his wand, the illusion of a Dark Mark disappearing along with it. With another flick of his wrist and muttered spell he had summoned his broomstick and was standing on the large windowsill, the glass pushed open in front of him. "You can tell mother to come out from hiding now," he remarked smugly as dropped outside the window and hovered there on his broom. "And by the way, you didn't think that was a real Dark Mark, did you?" he shot out as he turned his broom around and zoomed off in the direction he now knew Ginny had been taken.

From far behind him he heard Lucius Malfoy cursing in rage at being so deceived and hurling hexes at Draco's back. But it was too late, the young Malfoy was already out of range, and as he flew off after Ginny, the grin that split his face was nothing short of triumphant.

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Ginny's jaw dropped. "D-Draco's coming here?" Was he coming to rescue her? Had he found out where she was?

Pansy smirked, reading the question in Ginny's eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. Draco's not coming here to rescue you like some pathetically ridiculous knight-in-shining-armor persona from a fantasy book."

"Then why?" Ginny's face betrayed her confusion, causing amusement to flicker in Pansy's eyes.

"Because, silly girl, the Master bids him to."

That got Ginny. Her heart felt like it had stopped beating in her chest, and a horrible feeling of dread was overcoming her. "What do you mean? What master? Voldemort?"

That God-awful laugh again. "Oh no," Pansy told her mockingly. "You won't get off that easily. There is someone much, much worse than Voldemort who has taken a....shall we say 'interest' in you."

Suddenly, it all clicked into place. Draco, her captor, someone more powerful than Voldemort...the necklace.

Now Ginny knew what Draco had been keeping from her that day in the Great Hall when they had first found the door to the Rainbow Room. Now she understood why he had suddenly become so distant.

It wasn't because he was "uncertain" about their relationship as Ginny had thought. It was because he had been told to use her.

Oh, God, this couldn't be happening. If Salazar had had a hold of Draco all that time before, did that mean that it could have had a hold on him even longer than that? What if all that he had told her, everything he had said, the kiss...What if it had all been some gigantic ruse to get her to trust him?

And the challenge had even presented a better way to get them together. Had this whole little adventure been planned by Draco?

Surely not, but then...if it hadn't, how could she account for Draco's sudden change of attitude? First in the way he had become nice to her, then in the way he had suddenly turned distant.

It was all so confusing.

Face pale, Ginny glanced back over at Pansy and saw a triumphant smile etched across the girl's features. She was enjoying this.

But Ginny was too upset and disillusioned even to hate her for it. All she wished was to be left alone so she could sort out her jumbled thoughts.

As though Pansy had read her mind, the seventh year opened her mouth cheerfully. "Well, I guess I'll leave you alone now. There's probably a lot you want to think about now that you know that Draco never really liked you in the first place. He was just using you to do his Master's bidding. How embarrassing." And with one last shake of her head and a louder-than-called-for giggle, she made her way out the door.

Ginny waited until she was sure there was no one else around, and then let the tears that had been gathering in her eyes spill over. For not the first time, but hopefully the last, she found herself crying over the lost cause that was Draco Malfoy.

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Draco eyed the woods warily before landing. This was where he was supposed to find Ginny?

The woods around him were another branch of the Forbidden Forest, as was evident by the cold glares the trees seemed to be giving off. Just his luck that he would end up once again in the middle of a place he so passionately hated.

As soon as he inherited Malfoy Manor, that section of forest would probably be the first thing to go. If he inherited the Manor.

After that stunt he'd just pulled, he would be extremely surprised if he inherited anything. Knowing his father, the old man might already be at court changing his will and trying to convince the lawyers that Draco did not even deserve the name "Malfoy" and that they should change his birth certificate immediately. Draco wouldn't put anything past him.

The wind whispered around him, and it took all the courage and self-possession Draco had not to hop right back on his broomstick and fly away. But Ginny needed him. After all he'd put her through, he couldn't let her down now. His insides ached just thinking about it.

Well, there was nothing left to do know but search the area. Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd stumble across some clue to help him. Lucius Malfoy had told him the right place all right, Draco could feel it, but he hadn't given very specific directions for once you landed.

And the enormity of the forest around him didn't help either. It would be almost impossible to find her. But he had to try. For Ginny's sake...and for his own.

"Draco!"

Ginny's anguished cry reached his ears, and Draco immediately turned, searching for the source of the voice. His heart was hammering in his chest, and his pulse raced. Never in his life had he felt this much worry for anyone. It was pure torture. Like a knife had been stuck into his heart and was being continually wrenched around.

One moment he thought there might be a chance of finding her, of saving her from whatever horrible monstrosity had hold of her. The next, he knew it was hopeless. He'd never seen such a large, endless forest. He was completely lost. And even if he had her voice to guide him, how could he be certain that it wasn't some cruel joke, a horrible trick to lead him in the wrong direction so that by the time he realized what was happening it would be entirely too late to find her in time?

His one constant thought was please don't hurt her before I get a chance to tell her the way I feel.

He should have done it weeks ago, he realized that now. Instead, he had hesitated, never wanting to be the one to take the risk first, mostly for fear of being rejected. Even now, he wasn't sure exactly how she felt about him. But there was no longer any denying the way he felt for her.

He loved her.

He knew it down in the very bones of his body; in the depths of his soul. A wild, sweet, uncontrollable love that was all the more terrifying for the very depths of it's passion.

As he stood in those woods, the sound of her voice desperately calling his name still echoing around him, he knew he had no choice. If he hadn't refused Slytherin before, Ginny would still have been safe at Hogwarts.

The voice had warned him after all, hadn't it? That fateful day all those weeks ago when it had told him to think carefully on his choice, for his very happiness would depend on it. Back then, he hadn't fully realized what it had meant. He was seldom happy anyway.

But now he heard the words as he had that one day, with a remarkable clarity and understanding that had been denied him before.

Salazar had meant Ginny after all. Draco should have trusted his instincts. Salazar had somehow known even that long ago that Draco fancied her; that he felt something for the little red-haired Weasley that could only result in the truest love of all.

And he had used its knowledge to manipulate Draco into helping him. He had known that Draco could not refuse when faced with the decision between helping Salazar or sacrificing Ginny.

And he had been right.

In that moment of revelation, Draco suddenly hated his house's namesake with every fiber of his being. Salazar had certainly earned his dark reputation, and up until a few months ago, Draco would probably have been first in line for the man's autograph. But not anymore. Now, he just wanted to get the whole thing over with. He wanted to make sure that Ginny was safe and sound back at Hogwarts, with not even one tiny scratch anywhere on her entire, perfect, beautiful little body.

Looking up from the forest floor where he had been staring in silence, he raised his head high, almost proudly, and glared out at the forest around him.

" Fine!" he shouted into the stillness, pure rage filling every drop of his voice as the sound broke the silence. " I'll do it. Are you happy now? I said I'd do it!"

Suddenly, from somewhere deep within him, a dark, deranged laugh bubbled up. It caused the hairs on the back of his neck prickled, and Draco shivered as goosebumps rose up all over his body.

Good, he heard the triumphant voice of Salazar whisper in his mind. Good...

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Ginny didn't know how long she cried, but when the tears finally stopped falling, she was still alone and night had fallen. A feeling of helplessness fell over her again, as it had earlier that day, or the day before, or whenever it had been. She wasn't sure how long she had slept before waking up to find that horrid girl there to terrorize her.

Then, she had sworn she would be strong, that she would survive, but the news about Draco had devastated her. The possibility that someone she had come to trust and depend on so much had just been using her was shocking.

Ginny hoped it wasn't real, wished, prayed that it wasn't, but how could she be sure. Draco had acted strangely, certainly, but wasn't it possible for someone to really change? She had thought it was.

Now she found herself once more adrift in a sea of endless uncertainty and unknown truth. She had been sure that Draco had meant it when he kissed her, sure that he had meant it when he complimented her. Now she wasn't sure of anything.

That was the moment the door opened and Pansy's lithe form slid easily through the gap.

"The Master says for me to lead you to the bathroom," she intoned emotionlessly. Unconsciously, she reached down to touch the chain that Ginny noticed hanging around her neck reverently. It wasn't the gesture itself that got Ginny's attention, but the remarkable similarity to the way Draco had touched his own necklace. Once Ginny noticed that, it was only seconds before she realized that not only did Pansy use the same gesture, the necklace she wore was identical to Draco's! Was it possible that there were two Soul Keepers?

Pansy seemed to catch her look, and a small, mirthless laugh escaped her. "No, it's not as you think. This is only a copy of the original Soul Keeper, designed before Slytherins death for communication purposes only. No, Draco wears the original." Her face became suddenly unhappy and darkly brooding at the mention of Draco's name, but the moment she noticed ginny watching she concealed the expression.

Pansy was worried about something. Something having to do with Draco. The idea that the little Slytherin princess wasn't so confident as she had seemed before pleased Ginny enormously. Maybe it meant that Draco wasn't doing exactly what they had planned.

To Ginny, that meant one of two things:

(1) Either Draco and Slytherin were having some kind of disagreement over how things should precede; or,

(2) Draco wasn't participating with them at all.

The last option brought a renewal of hope to Ginny's spirit. If Draco wasn't with them, he was certainly against them!

Now that she had time to think, she realized that it wouldn't be so unlike Pansy to lie to her, make her believe things that weren't true. She might have even been purposely leading her awry so that Ginny didn't realize her true situation, and so that she gave up all hope.

Well Ginny had news for that little arse. She was through playing games, and as far as she was concerned her "Master" could go jump off a cliff! Ginny decided she was much better off believing someone she might have only thought she trusted, like Draco, to someone she had always known she couldn't trust.

When Pansy motioned for her to get to her feet and shoved her roughly out the door ahead of her, Ginny's mind was made up.

Which was the reason that when Ginny actually saw what looked like a door opening in front of her that seemed to lead outside she didn't hesitate.

"Draco!" she shouted as loudly as she could, hoping that if he was anywhere near by he would hear her. It might help him.

Even when Pansy's knee came up suddenly into her stomach and knocked the air out of her for her insolence, and again when Pansy's foot connected with her side as she lay on the ground and she fell into darkness, Ginny's inward expression of faith and hope never wavered.

And somewhere- far in the distance, though she did not know it- a young man looked up into the forest around him as he heard her cry, the sound of her voice restoring his almost shattered will to the strength he needed to go on.

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