The Silver Dragon

The Silver Dragon

Chapter one - 'Raining Connections'

Ginny had been called to Professor Dumbledore's office. It was her second day back to school and she knew she couldn't have done anything wrong. Upon her arrival, she found her mother sitting in one of the over-stuffed arm chairs. When Mrs. Weasley looked up at Ginny, she noticed the tears running down her mum's face. Looking around the circular room, Ginny noticed that all the members of the order were there, including Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Mum," Ginny said, redirecting her attention to her mother, "what's wrong?" When her Mrs. Weasley's only answer was another loud sob, Ginny tried other people around the room. "Dad? Professor?"

"Miss Weasley, we have something of a grave nature to discuss with you," Dumbledore started. Then he looked at Mrs. Weasley, "You should tell her, Molly. You have to tell her."

Mrs. Weasley let out another blasting sob before nodding her head and suppressing her tears. "Ginny, honey," she began, her voice cracking a bit, "you are different then the people around you." Mrs. Weasley stopped as more tears fell, not trusting her voice.

"Mum, go on. It's okay," Ginny urged.

Mrs. Weasley took a deep breathe and began again. "You are special, Gin. You are a chosen one," Mrs. Weasley said, trying to fight back the tears that were threatening once again. "You have special powers, Ginny, powers few before you have had."

"What are you talking about?" she questioned shakily. After she looked around the room and saw the uniform grim expressions, she regretted asking the question.

"You are," Mrs. Weasley paused, "an elemental."

***

"This is your fault, boy!" Lucius spat at his son. "How could you betray the Dark Lord like that? Me? You were going to inherit the title of the Dark Lord! I had your life planned out for you! You could have been like me!"

"Who said I wanted to be like you, Lucius?" Draco said, his voice calm and cool. Lucius had taken to coming to Draco's cell at least three times a day to remonstrate Draco. Lucius was furious at his son for helping the Order, but his wrath equaled less then half of what Voldemort was feeling.

Lucius being around was a renewed experience. He had gone to Azkaban until about half way through Draco's seventh year. A little after Christmas Voldemort had talked the dementors into crossing over to the dark side. All of Voldemort's Death Eaters were released. All of the other prisoners either joined Voldemort's ranks or they were kept down in the dungeons much like Draco's until they were killed.

Draco was in a familiar cell that lay far beneath the Malfoy Manor. His hands were chained above his head and he was seated on the floor, looking up to Lucius. Lucius like the sense of authority it gave him, being looked up to by his estranged son.

"Everyone wants to be like me, son. To be at the right hand of the Dark Lord," Lucius snarled.

"You are a marionette, Lucius! You have no control over your life or those around you!" Draco responded.

"I controlled your mother, Draco," an evil glint appeared in his eyes. "I controlled her until the day she died, until the day I killed her."

Draco's light gray eyes darkened, his scowl deepened. "You idiotic bastard. You killed the one person who cared about you, despite your many flaws," Draco hissed icily.

"I killed the one person you cared about, can't you see that? I know you are smarter then that," Lucius then smirked, the identical one his son so often adopted. "You turned cold after that, whether you realize that or not. You are becoming just like me."

"I will never be like you," Draco said, his voice laced with venom.

"Surprise, son," Lucius said with mock enthusiasm. "Welcome to the world of evil," he finished, walking out with a superior expression on his face, his black robes billowing out around him.

***

Ginny's face contorted and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But Mum, I can't be an elemental. There are only two known elementals, Teva Tucker and Damia Harper."

"Ginny, Damia Harper was your great-great grandmother and Teva Tucker was Damia's great-great grandmother. The legend goes that Teva was the daughter of Gaea. Gaea is known as Mother Earth. She passed down her powers of control of wind, fire and water to Teva."

Mrs. Weasley paused and Ginny took this as the opportunity to ask a question. "If Gaea was Mother Earth, why wasn't Teva and Damia? Why are they only wind, fire and water?"

"The last element was Earth. Without Earth wind, fire and water would do nothing. Earth is the soul mate of the elemental. Teva never found Earth but fell in love with an ordinary wizard and had her daughter Aiko. She never found her soul mate and died. Since she did not complete her task, she never crossed over. Teva waited until she felt a magical sense strong enough to take on her powers. This was of course Damia. Damia worked hard and mastered her powers, but was still not able to find Earth. Knowing her time was dwindling, she found an acceptable wizard and got pregnant. Again, not having completed her mission, she never crossed over."

"What was her mission? Why was uniting with Earth so important?" Ginny inquired.

"The combination of Earth and the Elemental would provide enough power to defeat evil. The love would be to strong for ultimate evil to fight. It would be the ultimate demise of evil and the rise of good," Dumbledore spoke up.

"How will I find Earth? What if I don't?"

"This is the last chance to defeat evil," Dumbledore told her, "If you cannot defeat Voldemort, the powers of the elements will be lost forever. We have found Earth, however, before you go to get him, you need to be trained."

"Trained? Trained for what? Where is Earth? Why do I need to wait? Who is he?" Ginny asked rapidly.

"You need to be trained to gain control over your powers, Virginia. You will be trained to perform magic without a wand, to beckon water and wind, and to conjure fire. If you do not gain control you can hurt those around you or possible yourself."

"Professor, you didn't tell me who Earth is. How do I find out who it is?"

"Earth, Virgina, is Draco Malfoy."

***

Draco waited too make sure Lucius wasn't around any longer and put his hand out. He envisioned the keys appearing in his hands, and they did. Draco didn't know how he was doing this without a wand, but he realized he could a few days into his punishment. Draco returned the keys in the same fashion and continued to think about why he was in here. Originally, he had spent the free time thinking of how to get out, but after trying every spell and charm he knew, he surrendered, knowing that no one escaped the dungeons.

I will never be like Lucius. I know I won't, he thought. Then something Dumbledore had once said to him surfaced, "Your choices define who you are, your actions tell other what you believe."

Our choices are different. That's why we're different. He choose to be the lap dog of some psychotic killer and I choose to capture the same man.

Draco heard footsteps and quickly locked himself up in his chains once again. As the shadow of who ever was coming became more visible, Draco noted the scrawny form. As the person stood in front of the door, the damp atmosphere turned dry and cold.

"Draco Malfoy," a voice hissed. There was searing pain on Draco's arm and he noticed the Death Mark was glowing a fire red color. Draco bit down on his tongue to keep from reacting to the affliction, the coppery taste of blood appearing. "How dare you disobey me, your pledged master. You will forever be in my servitude. Unfortunately, your little display only further proved to me how necessary your presence is."

"What are you talking about?" he spat.

"You, young Malfoy, are the first person who did not scream at the pain of the burning of your coveted Dark Mark."

Draco's only response to this remark was his dark gray eyes staring directly at Voldemort's black empty ones.

"Despite your hardest efforts, you will willingly become me when I die. One way or another. I think after being in this dungeon for a few week, or maybe months, you will see the way it is supposed to be. And if not, we will torture you. Your choice," Voldemort finished, his eyes giving off a victorious glare.

I will never be at the mercy of another. Lucius taught me one thing, independence. I don't need anyone else. I can figure my way out of this on my own.

Draco kept thinking along those lines, not telling Voldemort any of them. By keeping his silence, a haughty smirk spread across Voldemort's face.

"See you in a few weeks, to make sure you have 'seen the darkness,'" Voldemort said dramatically before leaving the room.

***

Ginny looked around the room in disbelief, as if waiting for someone to jump out smiling and yell "gotcha!". No such luck, however. She couldn't take this.

"I need to go, Professor. I just need," Ginny trailed off. She turned on her heel and walked out the door leaving surprised faces in her wake.

Mrs. Weasley got up to go follow her but Harry stopped her. "Mrs. Weasley, why don't I go talk to her?" He didn't wait for her answer and walked out of the room, in pursuit of Ginny.

He found her sitting on a rock by the lake. "Ginny," he said.

Ginny looked up at him with a tear stained face. "Why Harry? Why?" she asked frankly. She knew Harry had gone through this numerous times. Since Ginny had gotten over stuttering every time Harry tried to talk to her, they had become good friends. "You are the one that is supposed to save the day, Harry, not me."

"Ginny, you've grown up. It's your turn to stand in the spot light and do what you were destined to do. You'll train with Dumbledore and learn how to do magic without a wand. You know how much time that'll save you, not having to feel for your wand?" Harry finished jokingly.

Ginny didn't bite the bait. "Why do I have to save Draco? Why does the Order want to risk my life for a death eater, a supporter of the other side?"

"You don't know?" Harry asked. Ginny shook her head 'no' and Harry decided to fill in some gaps for her. "Draco Malfoy became a double agent for the Order, Ginny. He knows things about us that Voldemort would love to get his hands on. He would stop at nothing to get his hands on this information."

"What information is that, Harry?" Ginny asked hopefully.

"I can't say, you know that," Harry said reprovingly. Ginny still didn't seem sold on the mission so he decided to try another angle. "Ginny, do you think Malfoy deserves to be tortured?"

"No one does, Harry. But that doesn't mean I want the job of saving the person who made my fifth and sixth years Hogwarts miserable. Someone else who has stronger feelings should do it."

"Ginny," he began.

"Harry, I need time to think by myself. Just give me time," Ginny asked, falling back into her reverie.

Harry looked at her with concern in his eyes, but he knew nothing else to say to her. It was a bad situation, one that he wished Ginny didn't have to go through. He also knew the fate of the Order and the outcome on the war depended on Malfoy, no matter what his personal feelings were.

Ginny sat in her quiet room, lying on her back, looking up at the ceiling enchanted to look like the night sky, like in the Great Hall. Her talk with Harry had brought up an interesting point.

If I have a problem with the way someone is being treated, then it's my job to fix it. To make it right. It's my problem, no one else's.

There was a knock on her bedroom door and Ginny went to answer it.

"Ginny, Professor Dumbledore wants to talk to you," Hermione said. "He's waiting in his office. The password is Fiddlesticks." Hermione turned and left when Ginny heard 'you can do it.'

She turned to Hermione's retreating back and asked, "What did you say?"

"Nothing. What did you hear?" she answered back perplexed.

"Nothing, nothing," Ginny said and walked down the steps on her way to Dumbledore's office.

TBC.......