The Soul Keeper

Chapter 21: What Dreams are Made Of

A/N: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to all my wonderful reviewers. Thank you all so much, I appreciate all the support and encouragement you've given me. Also, just to let you all know, I've started work on another D/G fic called Playing with Fire. It ought to be out sometime in the next few weeks, so be sure to keep a look out for it. I don't know exactly how long it will be, but it is chaptered. See you all then hopefully! Now onwards to the end...

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Ginny gaped in shock as she saw the knife pierce deep into Draco's chest. What was he doing?!!!

Then she was moving again, struggling to get out of the binds that held her. Her wrists bleed freely, but she didn't feel the pain anymore.

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Draco's eyes widened as he looked down at a growing pool of blood forming around his feet and pouring from his chest. He felt his knees weaken and then his legs gave out. The dagger dropped from his hands as he fell, clattering to the blood splattered floor.

Draco looked up at Ginny, full possessor of his body once more. Her eyes were terrified, and tears streamed unnoticed down her cheeks. Until he felt the taste of salt on his own lips, he didn't realize that he was crying too. Curse it, but it couldn't be helped.

He reached out a trembling hand, intending to comfort her, to tell her that everything would be okay. "Gin-" That was as far as he got. A warm, metallic taste filled his mouth and he turned away, coughing up blood. His hand dropped to his side; he couldn't hold it up anymore. A hot, pain-shot flame licked through him, scorching him from head to toe, but especially around his heart. Now I know what a lobster being boiled feels like, he thought vaguely.

He tried to find Ginny's face, he searched for it, wanting it to at least be the last thing he saw, but he couldn't find it. Instead, a hazy red fog enveloped him, and he felt hands struggle to hold him up as he slumped to the floor. Then his vision turned black, and he knew no more.

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Pansy's breath caught in her throat when she saw the dagger stop and she realized that Draco was fighting Salazar. Damn him, and just when she was about to see that little Weasley brat done in for sure! Well, she wasn't just going to stand by and let her get away alive.

Jumping out of the shadows, she rushed to take hold of the dagger, to force it down by the added force of her weight, but she didn't get more than three feet before she saw Draco plunge the knife into himself. She stopped dead in her tracks, staring. Frozen unable to move, she could only sputter in surprise when strong hands gripped her from behind and she felt herself being held none to gently by a ministry of magic official.

"Twitch, and you're dead," he told her.

He might have been joking, but Pansy sure didn't want to try it and find out. She stood still.

Crabbe and Goyle had also come out of the shadows, but it was at the last moment and only to run from more Ministry officials. They didn't make it very far. Though as big or bigger than any of the men holding them, when threatened like Pansy, they didn't move.

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Somehow, the leather straps disappeared from Ginny's wrists and ankles. She didn't bother to wonder how, not then. Vaguely, she was aware that people were moving around her, and someone was calling her name. But she had eyes only for Draco, and immediately slipped off the table and onto the floor beside him.

Hands reached for her, but she shrugged them away. Desperately, she placed her hands over the jagged wound, trying to stop the flood of blood. Someone gripped her arm, pulling her away, and voices spoke loudly in her ears, but she didn't understand what they were saying. She didn't want to. Draco couldn't be dead, he couldn't.

But he was.

Great sobs racked her body, and she was suddenly overcome with exhaustion. The arms came back, but this time they were gentle, and familiar.

Ron. It was Ron holding her.

She leaned into him, grateful for the support as more tears streaked her cheeks. He held her comfortingly, rocking her softly in his arms until her sobs subsided somewhat.

Gradually, the mix of noises faded, became individual voices, talking, crying, and whispering. Her head pounded with them, and in her mind she begged them to stop.

She must have mumbled something aloud without realizing it, because a moment later, Ron stopped moving.

"What was that, Gin?"

"I said tell them to shut up. Please," she muttered tiredly.

She didn't look up from where her head was buried in his shoulder, but a few moments later the voices stopped and Ginny could think again.

The hurt, the grief, was still there, but it had dulled to a distant ache inside of her, and since the shock had worn off, her brain was functioning again.

She pulled away from Ron suddenly, spinning around to look at where Draco still lay on the floor. Ron tried to stop her, but she wouldn't be stopped.

Her mind had just seized upon the craziest, and probably stupidest idea ever thought of, but it was a plan nevertheless, and Ginny was not going to give up.

"Let go of me Ron," she ordered harshly as she reached over to Draco and began hunting through his pockets. "I can save him. Please let it be here, please let it be here..."

Ron looked as if he were going to stop her, but Hermione laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Don't," her eyes seemed to say.

He gave her a questioning look. Hermione shrugged.

Harry stood nearby as well, along with Professor Dumbledore and a squad of ministry officials.

Everyone was silent, waiting.

Most, like Ron, thought Ginny had lost her mind in her grief, but no one said anything. No one even dared to move unless this sudden spell of hope that had come over them vanished, leaving nothing but sorrow in it's place.

Ginny finished her search through the pockets of Draco's shirt and pants, not caring that her hands were sticky with blood. If this worked, it wouldn't matter, and if it didn't...well, it still wouldn't matter.

But she couldn't think of that. It had to work, it had to.

From a few feet away, Dumbledore watched anxiously, knowing what she searched for and wishing it to be there right along with her.

When her fingers finally touched cold glass in an inside pocket of his robe, she knew she'd found what she was looking for.

Without a word, she jerked the stopper off with strength she hadn't known she had and lifted the vial to her mouth. From the corner of her eye, she saw Ron reach for her, but once again, someone held him back. This time it was Dumbledore.

She drained the potion in three gulps.

Remembering what the book had said about will power, Ginny focused all her will on one thing: Draco.

At first, she didn't think it had worked. Nothing seemed to change, she was still in that stone room, sitting on a cold floor, sticky with blood. But then it was gone, replaced by a scene of swirling white smoke or fog, or maybe both. It twisted and turned around her, filling her vision and losing her in it's white cloud. Was this death?

If so, where was Draco?

She ran through the white clouds, a mind without a body. At least without a real one. It was her spirit that raced through the mist, for only a spirit could walk through death.

She ran without thought, never wondering how she would find Draco, or how they would find the way back into life once she had him. All she knew was that she would do it. In her mind, there was no doubt.

And if she couldn't, she might as well be lost in this place forever than go back without him.

Calling out, she yelled for him, but he didn't answer. Was he too far away? Or was she too late, and he had already passed through the gates of this nether realm and into the other parts of death?

Neither possibility was encouraging. Hours passed, or was it only minutes? In this place, time didn't exist, and Ginny had no way of knowing for certain.

She just kept calling out Draco's name, hoping he would answer.

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When Draco awoke, it wasn't to the same sight of a cold stone ceiling or floor that he had expected. Instead, a white mist swirled around him, tugging gently on his clothes, pulling him forward. He started to follow, but stopped when he realized that the blood was gone from his hands. In fact, it was gone from his clothes too. Looking down at smooth skin where moments ago there had been a gaping whole, Draco's mind was suddenly pushed into action and he looked around him more carefully.

Was this heaven? No, that couldn't be right, no way he'd end up here. There must have been some mistake. But there was no one to complain to, so he began walking once more, allowing the breeze to guide him.

He only stopped to look back once, and that only just after he had started. Behind him was what looked like a huge hole in the whiteness, and through it he could see the room he'd left. Ginny was there, held tight in Ron's arms as she cried. She was crying for him.

For a moment, he thought about going back and trying to step back through the hole, but it was shrinking fast.

The hole closed completely then, and he had no choice but to go forward. Besides, the breeze that was leading him seemed anxious to be moving, and Draco really couldn't think of any reason to stay.

He had been walking only moments when he heard the first yell.

"Draco!"

He stopped, puzzled. Who could possibly be calling to him in here?

He would have tried to find out, but the wind tugged at him, it's urgency contagious. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt the strongest urge to keep moving, to get out of there.

He walked forward some more.

But the call came again, and again, and each time it grew harder to ignore.

Finally, an answering cry burst from his lips before he could stop it. He finally recognized the voice. It was Ginny calling him!

But what was she doing here...

No, she couldn't be. Please tell me she didn't die too!

The cry came again, more hopeful this time. Turning in it's direction, Draco tried to go that way, but the guiding wind, once gentle, had turned into a howling gust, threatening to sweep him off his feet entirely if he continued on his present course.

"Ginny!" he called, his voice clear and loud this time. "I'm over here, I can't get to you!"

"I'm coming!" came the answer.

An eye-straining moment later a small, red-headed figure burst through the clouds beside him. Clutching her hand tightly, he pulled her against him, holding her close. It was so good to be able to do that again.

"God, Gin, I'm so sorry," he got out after a few minutes of silence. "I was supposed to protect you and I failed. You weren't supposed to die."

"But I didn't."

Draco glanced up into her grinning face, startled. "What do you mean? How could you be here if- You didn't."

He stopped, recognition shining in his eyes. Reaching into his empty cloak pocket, he turned it inside out in disbelief.

"I did." Her smile lit up her face, her eyes happy, though moist with unshed tears.

"But-"

"I had to try, Draco," she interrupted, stopping his protest with a finger laid gently over his lips. "I couldn't just let you die when there might have been a chance."

He kissed her finger lightly and smiled back. Her grin was infectious.

For a long moment, they just stood there, holding each other.

Then sanity returned.

"But how are we going to get back? The book said that people who get lost in here never get back."

Ginny cringed. "I hadn't actually gotten as far as that in my plans..."

"Of course not. You Gryffindors never think things through."

Ginny pretended to be wounded at the insult, but even with the possibility of not getting back to the world of the living in front of her, she couldn't seem to stop grinning. She had found him, safe and sound, without a single mark on his body.

That she could see, that was.

The stray thought came from nowhere, and she turned her face away from Draco, hoping that she couldn't blush in her spirit form. Where had that come from, anyway?

If Draco noticed anything, he didn't say. Instead, he took her hand in his and looked for a way out. It was funny, but the wind that had been blowing so hard before was back to a gentle breeze, but this time it was headed in the opposite direction.

Was that a sign? Should they follow the wind, or take their chances alone?

Well, one way was as good as the other, and at least the wind was heading back in the general direction that hole had been in.

Maybe when they got there it would reappear and they could step back through. Or something like that.

"Come on," he said, tugging at her hand. "Follow the wind."

Ginny looked confused. "What wind?"

Draco stopped. "You don't feel it?"

"I don't feel anything."

That was strange. But not impossible. Draco couldn't help the wry smile that touched his lips then. After this, he'd never think of anything as impossible.

"Just come on."

Ginny followed obediently, not knowing where he was leading her, but not having any better ideas herself. Maybe if she'd paid more attention in some of her classes she would have a little bit better idea what she was dealing with.

Then again, maybe not. How to walk through death was probably not a subject that teachers were encouraged to teach.

They walked on, Draco in front of Ginny, and the wind in front of and around him. When it suddenly ended, Draco knew they must be back at the portal where he had entered death. But there was no hole in sight.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his soft hair, causing it to stick up at odd angles and making Ginny giggle.

He glared at her in exasperation. "The doorway's gone. I don't think that's anything to laugh at."

His mood sobered her a little. "Well, maybe you get out the same way you get in."

Draco's eyes narrowed. "And how's that?"

"Well, when I drank the potion, I just sort of willed myself to be here, to find you. So maybe we just-"

"Will ourselves back out," Draco finished for her. Ginny nodded.

It sounded incredulous, but Draco was not beyond giving it a shot. Squeezing her hand reassuringly, Draco nodded. "Okay, on three, we wish really hard to be back in the "real" world. Got it?"

Ginny nodded again, and closed her eyes to concentrate.

"One, two, three!"

Draco closed his eyes too, focusing his whole being, everything that he was on making a gate through the worlds and stepping through it. In his mind's eye, he saw once again the large ballroom, with it's stone floors and bloodstained table. He felt the coldness in his bones, and the fear in his chest as Slytherin brought the knife down towards Ginny's heart, and he remembered the swelling of raw power from him that had allowed him enough time to stop the knife and change it's direction. He hadn't been able to stop Salazar completely, but he had used the wizard's strength to change the dagger's direction.

Suddenly, the world around him changed, and he felt himself falling. Ginny went with him, their hands still locked together, as they fell though the hole that had opened below them in the mist, back into their still bodies.

Ginny was the first to revive, jerking herself up out of Ron's lap and reaching for Draco's chest.

At first it remained still, and she feared it hadn't worked, but then it moved, ever so slightly. Then more and more, higher and higher, faster and faster until the motion became a heave and Draco was gasping for air.

All around them, disbelief and amazement was mirrored on the faces of ministry workers and three Hogwart's students alike. The only one who looked happy and proud rather than amazed was Dumbledore.

Ginny saw the look, and wondered at it briefly, but it would be days before they would find out what it meant.

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A week later, Hogwart's and it's students were back to normal, minus three missing Slytherins who no one actually seemed to miss at all. Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle had all had their wands snapped and had been expelled permanently from Hogwarts, or from any other wizarding school. Basically, instead of sending them to Azkaban, which Draco frankly thought they deserved, they had been sentenced to life as muggles.

As for Draco and Ginny, well, they were lucky to be back in school at all. After they had come back from the realm of death, they had both been taken to the nearest magical hospital and kept under observation for days. Remarkably, Draco showed no sign of ever having been stabbed. The wound was simply gone.

Of course, very few people knew the truth about what had happened that day. Only those few who the knowledge was absolutely necessary to were entitled to that privilege. This included Draco's and Ginny's parents.

Amazingly, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had turned up acting extremely concerned about their son's welfare. In fact, it was as if the whole incident at Malfoy Manor had never existed. It was strange, and not exactly to his liking, but what else could Draco do but pretend to go along with the charade? His father wouldn't do anything to him, he was certain. Not after he'd helped defeat one of the most powerful wizards- past or present- in the world.

As for Ginny, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley insisted she come home and stay for awhile, but Ginny refused. The last thing she wanted to do was hide away from the world somewhere and never come out.

She would have to face it again sometime, and the sooner the better. It took her some time, but she finally convinced her parents of that too. The only downside was, she didn't think Ron would ever leave her side again.

That week was one of the longest, most boring of Ginny's life. There was only one thing that spiced it up at all.

The next Saturday, over a week from the eventful day, Draco and Ginny finally managed to get all the students involved to gather in one of the spare classrooms and exchange stories and point-of-views, and to answer each other's questions. Though they didn't admit it, all of them had been bursting with questions all week. Now that all the hustle and bustle had died down, maybe they could finally find out the whole story.

That was how five students, Ginny, Draco, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, came to be gathered around a small fire in a deserted classroom playing question-and-answer.

Ginny went first, before anyone could object. She blurted the first thing that came to mind. "How did you all know where we were?"

Hermione took that one. "Simple really. Do you remember that night in the common room when I told you that you and Malfoy were okay?"

Draco, who'd been looking a bit bored, perked up a bit at this.

Ron just looked incredulous. "You said what?!"

"Nothing," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, the point is that I thought something suspicious might have been going on, so I put a tracking spell on you, just in case. And believe me, when I found out you were missing, I was more than glad."

Ginny mulled that over for a moment. Hermione looked like she half-expected Ginny to be angry with her, but Ginny only smiled. "Me too."

"And me," Draco agreed wholeheartedly.

There was silence for a moment, each person imagining what might have happened if Dumbledore and the rest of them hadn't gotten there when they had. Ginny shivered, and she wasn't the only one.

Pansy might have killed Ginny, Draco might never have been saved...the thought was too awful to dwell on. Even Ron, who had no great love for the Malfoy, had been horrified to see him lying in a pool of his own blood.

And when the whole story came out about Salazar and the detentions, and how Draco had saved Ginny's life, he actually came the closest to smiling at him that he ever had after sending him death glares for sneaking around Hogwarts at night with his sister. And Draco almost smiled back. Too bad it was more of a smirk.

Ginny even got around to apologizing to Harry for stealing his cloak, though he hadn't ever noticed it.

Most of the next questions came from Ron, Harry, and Hermione's side, and eventually, as they went through the story, they all wanted to know what it had been like, walking through death. Draco and Ginny described it the best they could, but how can you really tell about something like that? Words just weren't enough.

Then the three of them asked about the potion Ginny had drank. Ginny and Draco took turns describing the challenge to them, explaining where the vial had come from.

As Ginny and Draco described the challenges they had faced, both Harry and Hermione looked puzzled, while Ron just looked extremely green.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked worriedly. "You look like you just ate something disagreeable."

Ron just stared at her. "We thought our challenges were so hard," he finally got out. "Ginny, all we had to do were write reports and do a little research. What you guys had to do...well, we didn't even come close."

Draco's eyes narrowed, and it was Ginny's turn to look disbelieving. "You mean...?" she trailed off, leaving the rest of the sentence unsaid.

Hermione nodded. "That would be my guess. If I were you two, I'd have a nice long chat with the Headmaster as soon as possible."

"But," Ginny hesitated. "You think he knew?"

"No. I know he knew. My bet?" she looked at Ginny and Draco, who nodded for her to continue. "He wanted you two to solve the problem for yourselves, but he also wanted to help. So he gave you challenges that would do that for him. Then he couldn't be accused of interfering. Not that many people would blame him..." she trailed off, shrugging. Another mystery, one that might never be solved.

Draco let out a low whistle. "Well, it certainly explains those weird looks he gave us."

"You noticed them too?" Ginny asked quickly, turning around to face him.

"Noticed them? About as much as a hawk notices a mouse before it goes in for the kill."

More silence.

Harry was the first to break it. "Oh man, do you guys know what time it is?"

The rest of them except for Hermione looked up at him, but she looked at her watch. "Three o'clock."

"In the morning?" Ron asked.

"No, Weasle, in the afternoon," Draco couldn't help taunting.

To everyone's surprise, Ron actually laughed. "Yeah, you're right, stupid question."

Draco's brows lifted in surprise. "Damn right."

Ron stood, reaching out to help Hermione to her feet. "I say it's time for bed, we've got classes in the morning."

"Good idea," Draco agreed. "Do you mind if I walk your sister to her common room?"

Ginny watched with baited breath. Had Draco just asked Ron's permission to do something with her? Unbelievable. Maybe he was finally starting to come around. But what would her hotheaded brother do?

For a long moment, Ron and Draco, Weasley and Malfoy stood facing each other, staring one another down. Then Ron turned away. "As long as you walk with the rest of us."

"Agreed."

Draco took Ginny's hand with a smile, and together they followed the other three back to Gryffindor tower. As they walked up the last steps, Draco pulled her close and whispered in her ear.

"I love-"

"Don't!" Ginny interrupted.

Draco looked at her, surprised, and a bit hurt. "Why not?"

"Because, every time you've said it so far something horrible has happened right afterwards."

The hurt expression faded, replaced by an ironic smile. "Does that mean I never get to say it?" And just when he was getting used to it too.

"No, it means it's my turn." Moving her mouth until it brushed his ear, she whispered, "I love you Draco."

If Malfoy's could die from pure happiness, Draco thought he would have right then.

They reached the portrait hole, and he couldn't resist any longer. Grinning, Draco swooped down to plant a light kiss on Ginny's lips. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she grinned back.

"He didn't say I couldn't kiss you," he teased softly as Ron began protesting loudly. Hermione hushed him. "And there's more where that came from."

"I'm counting on it," Ginny replied. "But, uh, let's wait for more convenient timing, don't you think?"

"Of course." Draco smiled disarmingly at Ron, winked lazily at Ginny, and walked back down the staircase, leaving one person fuming, one smiling contentedly, and two more trying to keep from laughing.

As Ginny made her way up to the dormitory that night (or morning), Hermione stopped her in the hall with a gentle touch on her arm.

"You really love him, don't you?"

Ginny paused, smiling. "Yeah, I do." Her gaze clouded, and Hermione knew she was thinking about Draco. Then she continued, "He did save my life after all, so it's only fitting."

Hermione grinned, at once amazed and happy for her friend. Draco Malfoy was the last person she'd have thought Ginny would have fallen for, but... you couldn't help who you fell in love with. All she had to do was look at Ron for proof of that. He could be a goofball, and high tempered, but she loved him all the more.

She started to tell Ginny good night, but something stopped her. "Oh, Gin, there was something else I was wondering about." She stopped, biting her lip as if unsure whether she should continue or not.

"Well, go on."

"It's just...you told us all about how Slytherin was trying to take control of Draco and everything, and then how at the end Draco was beating him when he stabbed the dagger into his chest..." Hermione trailed off, seeing the look on Ginny's face, but she knew she had to finish. "I was just wondering, what exactly happened to Salazar then? I mean, when Draco came back to life, shouldn't he have just tried to take over him again or something? Instead it was like he'd just disappeared."

Ginny's eyes narrowed. To be honest, she'd never thought that much about it. The past week had been so busy it was almost a blur. Only tonight had she even begun to unravel the truth about the entire episode. Hermione's question brought up a good point. What had happened to Slytherin? And the necklace too, for that matter. She hadn't seen it around Draco's neck in- well, she hadn't seen it since that day. She'd have to ask Draco about it in the morning.

To Hermione, she could say nothing but the truth- that she didn't know- but she promised to tell her as soon as she found out.

When she finally crawled into bed, more than exhausted, her last thought before drifting off to sleep was that she and Draco were going to have a loooong talk tomorrow.

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Draco woke up early the next day, despite the late hours of the night before. He couldn't sleep. Something kept bothering him, but he didn't know what it was.

With a sigh, he heaved himself out of bed and dressed quietly. He might as well get up if he couldn't sleep anyway. Since it was Sunday, most of the other boys in his dorm were still asleep. Weren't they lucky.

At first, he just sort of wondered around the castle, but that didn't help very much. There was still something calling to him, something urgent that needed to be done and only he could do. But what was it?

He was still trying to think of the solution when he spotted Ginny coming around a corner ahead of him.

Smiling, his trouble forgotten for the moment, he went forward to meet her.

"Good morning, My Lady," he said playfully, making a show of bowing grandly.

Ginny couldn't help but laugh. "Good morning, Draco." Her smiling eyes drifted to the spot around his neck where the necklace used to hang, and suddenly Draco sensed a seriousness behind them.

"What's wrong?" he asked, immediately wary.

Ginny glanced up at down the corridor. It was deserted at the moment, but that could change instantly.

"Can we go outside first?"

Draco nodded and took her hand, then without another word led the way down towards the boulder he liked so much. It didn't matter who saw them now, word traveled like wildfire across the school, and events that were supposed to have been kept silent had already been heard about by everyone. They were classed as a couple now, albeit an odd one, and Draco couldn't have been happier. It was obvious things had changed between him and Ginny again, but this time for the better. It seemed everything was right in the world. Or almost, he corrected himself as he glanced over at Ginny's unsmiling face.

They were almost to the lake before he stopped suddenly, realizing that Ginny might not like the spot so well, she had been kidnapped there. But when he turned to look at her, she didn't seem to mind at all. She just shook her head slightly, as if to say it really didn't bother her, and kept walking.

After they settled themselves on top, Draco first, pulling Ginny up behind him, he repeated his question.

"What is it?"

Ginny hesitated, gathering her thoughts and trying to put them into words.

"Well...it's just...I realized that I haven't asked you what happened that day. What happened to the necklace and...and..."

"Slytherin?" he finished for her.

Ginny nodded.

Draco reached inside his cloak, searching for something. When he pulled a closed fist out and opened it in front of her eyes, Ginny couldn't have been more surprised at what it held.

The two snakes with ruby eyes stared up at her, a small, dagger sized hole right in the center of the piece. The broken chain lay folded beside them.

"It must have fell off...down there. I found the pieces in my cloak pocket not long after we got back to school. I don't know who put them there, but I've been carrying them around with me for a few days." he grinned bitterly as he looked down at the reminder of the past months. To think that all his troubles had started with a necklace. Suddenly, the feeling he'd had earlier came rushing back to him full force, and he realized that it was something to do with those pieces that was aggravating him. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the feeling. He had other things to think about.

Then his smile became real as he turned his mind to other matters. "I knew you'd ask about it sooner or later. I wanted to show you to begin with, but I also wanted to see how long it would take you to think to ask."

Ginny blushed, knowing she hadn't been very clever not to think of it sooner, and even now it had been Hermione to remind her of it. Draco laughed even more when she told him that.

"So that's what happened to the necklace," Ginny accepted, "But what about Slytherin?"

Draco sighed, staring off across the lake and out into the distance. At the light touch of Ginny's hand on his arm he came back to himself, smiling slightly at her. "I've wondered that myself, many times. I've tried to remember, tried to figure out exactly what happened, in the time between when I fought him and when I-" he paused, trying to control the shivers that raced down his back. It was still hard to talk about what had happened. "But I don't really know. All I know is that one moment he was there, the next he was gone. And I haven't felt him again since."

There was a long silence as Ginny digested this, but before she could say anything Draco went on.

"Maybe it has something to do with the necklace," he theorized, glancing down at his closed fist. "Maybe when the dagger pierced it, it somehow destroyed him."

Ginny thought this over. "How...how did you do that anyway? Fight him like you did I mean?"

Draco shrugged, and Ginny was shocked at the blank hard look in his eyes. "I really don't know," he told her finally. "All I knew was that I couldn't let him hurt you. When I realized I couldn't stop the dagger from moving, that I didn't have the strength for it, I just made it change directions instead.

"I've thought about this for awhile, and I think that when I turned his own strength against him is when I really won the battle. In a way, it was like when he- or we, I should say- destroyed the necklace, he destroyed himself. The necklace was his whole existence. Without it he was nothing."

Ginny was silent, staring down at Draco's hand, clenched tightly around the pieces as his eyes clouded. He was remembering that day, Ginny was certain of it. And suddenly she was afraid for him. He shouldn't spend the rest of his life clutching a broken chain and a silver pendant and remembering. It was over and done with, it was all in the past, and it was time to move on.

Just like her uncertainty about him was, she realized. She knew everything she needed to know now. He loved her, and she loved him. She'd told him as much the night before.

Gently, she took his hand in hers and pulled his fingers apart. He jumped slightly, startled back into reality, but remained still as she took the pieces from his hand and placed them in her own.

"I don't think we need this anymore, do you?"

Draco shook his head mutely.

"Good." With a smile, Ginny stood up and hurled the pieces as far out into the lake as she could.

They landed with a soft "plop" and then sank silently beneath the surface.

As soon as they disappeared, Draco felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. So that was what had been bothering him.

He grinned up at Ginny as she sat down beside him.

"Thanks."

"No problem," she grinned back.

Silence.

Then, "So what do you suppose we do now?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"Do you really want to know?" Draco asked lightly, a devilish gleam in his eye.

"Positive," Ginny replied, her eyes sparkling.

"Well, okay..." Draco mumbled in a warning tone, right before his lips met hers gently, then harder as they both strove to get closer to one another. Tongue on tongue, lips pressed against lips, they were soon lying on the boulder more than sitting.

In that moment, as he kissed her, Draco had never felt so alive in all his life. It was a wonderful feeling, something he hoped he'd have time to enjoy again and again. Just the feel and taste of her was enough to drive any warm-blooded man crazy.

Ginny was thinking pretty much along the same lines. She raked her fingers through his hair, wondering at the silky texture of it. She had never felt so safe, so protected as she did at that moment, with his arms wrapped tightly around her. This was the stuff dreams were made of.

Neither one of them realized how close they were to the edge until a voice rang out in the silence of the morning, shattering the piece and making both of them jump guiltily. It also made them roll of the side.

They landed in a tangle of arms and legs, and Ginny's long hair was twisted around both of them. At first, they were quiet in shock, but then there eyes met and they burst into laughter.

They might have gone back to kissing again (no scratch that, Draco would definitely started snogging her senseless again) if it weren't for the sound of someone clearing there throat on the other side of the bushes.

Draco rolled his eyes and Ginny sighed, but after a moment they managed to untangle themselves enough to get up and see who their unwelcome visitor was.

A young boy with a Gryffindor emblem on his cloak stood there; he couldn't have been more than a second year at the most.

"Well, what is it?" Draco asked impatiently, raking his hand through his hair as he glowered intimidating at the boy.

Surprisingly, the first or second year held his ground. "Are you Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley?"

They nodded.

The boy grinned in relief. "Good, I found you first."

Draco and Ginny just looked confused.

"Everyone's looking for you two," the boy explained importantly. "Dumbledore just announced that the winner's of the challenge needed to come receive their prizes."

When the couple continued to look mystified, the boy rolled his eyes in mock despair. "You know, the challenge thingy? You two are the winners. Headmaster just announced it at breakfast and now everyone's waiting for you to come collect your prize."

Draco and Ginny exchanged glances, then Ginny grinned and jumped up excitedly. "You heard the man, let's go."

"Can't we just...stay here?" Draco moaned.

"Come on." Ginny tugged on his hand and pulled him to his feet. "Let's go see what old Dumbledore's got in store for us now."

**************************

The Great Hall was still full when they arrived. It seemed everyone was waiting to see what sort of prize they would get. It was obvious by now to everyone that they were getting something more than a hundred points to each of their houses.

Walking to the front, hand in hand, Ginny and Draco both were amazed to hear the sudden cheering that went up from the students. Apparently, their fellow students were taking the pairing of Gryffindor and Slytherin much better than expected.

Ginny smiled shyly, but Draco seemed to be soaking the attention up. He didn't grin outright, but his familiar smirk was back in place, and his walk became more of a swagger. Ginny rolled her eyes at the sight, but said nothing.

Dumbledore was waiting for them with a huge smile on his face. Not even Draco could help smiling back, just a little.

As soon as the applause stopped, Dumbledore began speaking. "Congratulations to both of you. You've made your houses proud."

Under the cover of more applause, he added softly, "And you preformed admirably on your first and last challenge, I must say."

"What?" Draco asked, before it sank in. Slytherin. He was talking about Slytherin. "You mean you planned all that?"

"Of course not," Dumbledore assured him. "But once I found out about it, it seemed a better challenge than anything I could have thought of." Then he winked.

He winked, while Draco and Ginny stood there speechless. He had known all along and he hadn't stopped it, hadn't tried to help? What was wrong with the old man?

"He better have had a good reason for that," Draco muttered mutinously to Ginny as they listened to Dumbledore add 100 points to each of their houses. "We could both have been killed."

Ginny started to nod her head in agreement, but then she thought of something. "I think he did."

Draco snapped his head around to stare at her, and saw the now familiar twinkle in her eyes. "Oh really. And what reason is that?"

"Us." She smiled at him then, and though they were in front of dozens of students and staff, and although it would probably ruin his reputation for life, Draco smiled back with everything he had.

Right up until Dumbledore presented them their extra prize. Small, silver chained necklaces with the Hogwart's emblem on them. Including a snake with ruby eyes.

"No freaking way."

The End