Terminus Est

"Lock them up," said Lord Voldemort.

"But, master," said Peter Pettigrew. "Couldn't we just--"

"Do not defy me!" screamed Voldemort. "Do as I say, or suffer the consequences!"

Three rather large Death Eaters led the kicking and fighting teenagers to the dungeons, unaware that they were being followed by Draco Malfoy and company.

"Ouch," said Ginny quietly, as Draco accidentally stamped on her foot. There wasn't a lot of room underneath the invisibility cloak for three people. Especially when those three people included Ron Weasley. Honestly, Draco thought, the boy really was ridiculously tall.

The Death Eaters threw their captives rather viciously into one of the cells. Draco heard Harry curse.

"Damn," said Harry. "Don't feel the need to be gentle with us, or anything."

Draco smiled; he was definitely rubbing off on the Gryffindors.

Ron shifted when they threw Hermione into the cell, and Draco thrust out his arm to prevent the tall boy from attacking the Death Eater.

"You alright, Blaise?" Harry asked, as the Death Eaters trooped away. Silence. Draco assumed that Blaise had nodded her head. "Hermione?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine, Harry." Ron relaxed as they heard Hermione's voice. Then Hermione continued, and Draco knew that she realized the trouble they were in just as well as he did. "And we'll continue to be fine until they get their hands on Draco. At least, you'll be fine. I assume that it's you they were talking about..."

"Hermione, are you going to explain or not?" Harry sounded exasperated.

Draco moved forward, shrugging off the invisibility cloak. "Alohomora," he said, and the cell door sprang open. The three inside the cell gasped.

"Draco?" Blaise breathed.

"Us too," said Ginny cheerfully, as she and Ron followed Draco inside the cell.

"By all means, Hermione," Draco said, gesturing at the girl. "Continue explaining. I really do think it's Harry they were talking about, although that brings up some interesting points."

Hermione gaped at him. "Do I even need to ask how you three got here?"

"Well," said Ron. "You could. But that would take too much time, and time's one thing we haven't got."

"Too true," Draco agreed.

"You really think it was Harry?" Hermione asked.

"It has to be," Draco replied. "It makes sense that I would be the other one, though."

Hermione snorted. "Of course it does, you Slytherin prat."

"Are you two going to tell us what you're talking about or not?" Ron asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Ron, don't you read?"

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, looking angry. "Haven't we been over this before? I don't read!"

"Well, you should," Hermione shot back.

"You two," Harry said, bringing them back to the point. "We don't have time for this."

"Oh, right," Hermione said.

"So," Blaise prompted, "tell us about whatever it is you and Draco are talking about."

"Well," Hermione said, and her voice adopted a lecturing tone. "The Chest of Set is a very powerful magical object. If opened, it provides matchless power to the one who caused the opening. Basically, Voldemort can take over the world if he opens it."

"That was what that box thing was?" Harry asked, looking apprehensive.

Suddenly, the gears in Draco's head clicked, and everything fell into place.

"Yeah," Draco said, with a sardonic grin. "But, Hermione, you haven't told them the most interesting part."

Hermione took a deep breath. "The Chest of Set can only be opened by a charmed necklace, and only if the necklace is used by a descendant of Set."

"So, does Voldemort have the necklace?" Ron asked.

"I don't think so," Hermione replied. "If he did, he'd have killed us already."

"What, does he think we have it?" Harry asked.

"We do have it, Harry," Hermione said, looking at Draco.

"That necklace you've been wearing, Malfoy," Hermione said. "Where did you get it?"

"In the attic," Draco said, smiling slightly at Ginny, who smiled back.

"Can I see it?" Hermione asked.

Draco pulled off the necklace and handed it to her.

"Terminus Est," Hermione said quietly. "Yes, Salazar Slytherin enchanted this necklace. Terminus Est means 'This is the Line of Division.' Slytherin's idea of a joke, I suppose."

"Wait, Slytherin was in league with this Set guy?" Ginny asked.

"Not exactly," Draco said. "Slytherin was a descendant of Set."

"Wait," said Blaise, looking slightly confused. "Set was an Egyptian god, was he not?"

"No, he wasn't a god," Draco said. "He was only a very powerful wizard, as were Isis, Osiris, Hathor, Thoth and the rest. The Egyptian people believed that they were gods, and worshipped them as such. Wizards like Ra had entire generations that worshipped them, and all of the ancient Egyptian wizards had unnaturally long lives."

"Kind of like Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

"Exactly," Hermione answered. "Back to the Chest, though. Salazar Slytherin was a descendant of Set."

"So," Ron said. "You-Know-Who wants Malfoy to give him the necklace, so he can open the Chest?"

"No," Hermione said. "The wizard that opens the Chest has to be below the priest age."

"The what?" Blaise asked.

"The priest age," Hermione answered. "In ancient Egypt, boys became priests at age seventeen, and girls became priestesses at sixteen."

"So," Harry said, with an astounded look on his face. "Voldemort wants Draco to open the Chest of Set, so he can take over the world?"

"Why the world?" Draco moaned. "It's always the world! Why can't anyone be content with taking over Chipping Sodbury or something?"

"Malfoy," Ron said, shaking his head. "You are so weird."

"So says the boy who took five damn years to work up the guts to confess his love to the girl of his dreams."

"Hey, Malfoy?" Ron said.

"What?" Draco asked.

"Sod off."

Draco smiled sardonically. "Whatever, Weasley."

"Getting back on track," said Ginny, glaring at the two boys. "Is there any way to stop this thing?"

Oh, no. They were getting to the part that Draco really did not want to discuss.

"Not that I know of," said Hermione, her brow furrowed in thought.

Draco cleared his throat. "There is one way," he said.

"Well, Malfoy," Ron said, glaring at Draco. "Are you going to tell us, or are you going to sit there all day looking as if your pet basilisk died?"

"It wouldn't work, anyways," Draco said. "We're all too old."

"Ginny's younger than us, what about her?" Blaise asked.

Damn, Draco thought. He was afraid that someone would say that. He really, really didn't want to tell them the way. "Okay," Draco sighed. "But you're not going to like it."

"Well," said Ginny, straightening up. "I've found that the right thing to do is hardly ever fun."

Damn, thought Draco again. She was right. This whole 'being good' thing came so easy to her. He was in awe of this girl. He wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and protect her, but this was not the time.

"My father spoke to me about the Chest of Set once," Draco started. "It seems that the only person who could reverse the effects was a girl under the priestess age. Now, Set didn't believe that young girls were good for much of anything, so this was not a big deal to him." The three girls bristled in anger.

Draco continued. "But there is a riddle written on the Chest itself. It's charmed to be in whatever language the person who looks at it speaks, provided they are a girl who is fifteen years old, or younger."

"Meaning me," Ginny said.

"To reverse the effects of the Chest, the girl has to solve the riddle. If she gets it right, the power goes back into the chest and the chest disappears."

"You mean," said Ron, "it destroys itself?"

"No," Draco said. "It just hides itself. It can be found again, although that happens about once every ten thousand years."

"But what happens if she doesn't answer the riddle correctly?" said Blaise, eyeing Draco suspiciously.

Draco grimaced. "The powers of the Chest kill her instantly."

The reactions across the room were different. Ron and Harry blanched, Blaise put a hand over her mouth, and Hermione's mouth set in a grim line. Ginny just set her shoulders.

"Well," she said, putting on a brave front. "We have to try."

"Wait a minute," Ron said angrily. "If you think that I'm just going to let you go and get yourself killed..."

"You're not my father, Ron!" Ginny exclaimed angrily. "If I don't do this, You-Know-Who will kill us all anyways. At least if I do it, then we have a chance!"

Ron looked like he was going to argue some more, but Draco cut him off.

"She's right, Ron," he said quietly.

-------------------

Although she put on a brave front, Ginny was shaking inside. She was their only hope. Now she knew how Harry felt, when the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and he had to step up and be brave. She couldn't break down, not when everyone needed her.

"Of course I'm right," Ginny said. "It's the only way."

Draco looked at her, a look that pierced her heart and left her soul bare before him. She knew that he realized how she felt, and was thankful that he didn't call attention to it.

Her thoughts were abruptly halted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Draco barely had time to throw the Invisibility Cloak at her before the cell door swung open. She shifted so that she was fully covered, thankful that the Death Eaters hadn't noticed her very visible feet.

"What's this?" said Wormtail, in a voice of great surprise. "Two more for Lord Voldemort, then? Your little rescue mission didn't work out so well, did it?"

"What if this is part of our big super secret plan?" Draco asked sarcastically.

Wormtail stared at him for a moment, before breaking out in an evil grin. "Don't be smart with me, boy. You've just made things a whole lot easier for us."

"And how, exactly, is that?" Draco asked with a sneer.

"Well, silly boy," Wormtail said viciously, eyeing Draco in a distinctly unpleasant manner. "Now we don't have to go looking for you."

"Well, that's good," Draco said derisively. "You lot are such a bunch of blundering idiots that you wouldn't have found me if your noses were pressed against my sitting room window."

"Laugh all you want, boy," Wormtail said. "It's probably the last laugh you'll ever get." He then addressed the Death Eaters behind him, "Take them to the Dark Lord."

Ginny followed as her friends were led away, resisting the urge to kick Wormtail right up his fat arse. They walked to the courtyard, where Lord Voldemort was waiting.

The Chest of Set was also there. Ginny looked at it, and it seemed to take on a sinister appearance. This, she mused, was most likely because she now knew what it really was, an artifact of evil, made by an evil wizard and now in the possession of another evil wizard.

"So," said Lord Voldemort. "Our valiant hero has come to rescue his friends. Didn't work out for you, did it, Draco? I'm terribly sorry, but we must keep you from causing any more trouble."

"Trouble?" Draco sneered.

Typical, Ginny thought. Only Draco would sneer at Lord Voldemort himself.

Draco continued, "What trouble have I been, Voldie?"

"I detest that name. Do not call me that if you wish to live!"

"But you won't kill me, will you Voldie? You need me."

"Ah, yes," said Voldemort bitterly. "It is a sad situation, but one that will soon be rectified. Open the chest."

"What if I choose not to?" Draco said.

"Yeah," Harry said, joining in. "You already know that he can fight off the Imperius curse, right?"

"Insolent boys!" Voldemort cried, but quickly calmed himself. Ginny knew that a calm Voldemort did not bode well for them.

"I shall simply torture your little friends until you are forced to obey."

"You know," said Draco to Harry, in a casual tone. "They always threaten to torture your friends? Why is that, I wonder..."

"I know," Harry replied. "It's so cliché, really."

Draco's mouth curved up in a sardonic twist. "Yes, very cliché. A bit like trying to take over the world."

Hermione spoke up. "Say, Brain, what are we going to do tonight?"

Harry smiled at Hermione. "The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!"

"See what I mean?" said Draco, although Ginny knew that he had no idea what Harry and Hermione were talking about. "Cliché."

Voldemort was steadily growing angrier. "Enough, you foolish children! None shall defy me!" He turned to Hermione and raised his wand. "Crucio," he said.

Hermione screamed and fell on the ground, drawing her limbs close to her body. Her screams were terrifying to hear, and all three boys looked frightened. Ron raised his wand to Voldemort's chest, insane anger burning in his eyes.

"Don't be foolish, silly boy," Voldemort said derisively. "You cannot harm me."

"Yeah!" Ron shouted, trying to gather the screaming Hermione into his arms. "You don't have enough human in you to die!"

Blaise looked sickened.

"Enough!" shouted the Slytherin girl.

Voldemort lifted his wand. Hermione moaned and lay still. "Excuse me?" he said.

"I said, enough," she told him, crossing her arms and raising her chin. "Draco, do as he says."

Everyone stared at her in astonishment. Ron whispered comfortingly to Hermione, who turned in his arms.

"It's no use, Draco," Blaise continued. "You can't stand to see us tortured. You're too damn noble to let us die for you. We'd gladly be put through this to save you, but you won't let us. Just do as the...thing says."

Voldemort ignored the slur, but spoke out. "She's right, you know. The good guys always play the hero, and never see what's right in front of their noses. You would gladly sacrifice your own life, but you cannot stand the pain of others. It is this fact that makes you so weak."

"No, I am not weak," Draco said, in a loud voice that carried across the courtyard. "But I trust in the one who can save us, and we do your bidding only because we must."

"Fools," spat Voldemort. "There is none who can save you now."

They trusted her, Ginny thought, and felt her stomach turn over. She would have to save them all, for they could not do it by themselves.

She watched in numb disbelief as Draco walked towards the Chest of Set. She cursed the very essence of evil as he placed the charmed necklace into a groove on the lid. The Chest opened, and she found herself thinking that it couldn't be that simple.

Then, for a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, she did not think at all. A bright fountain of white light burst from the Chest as its power was released. The power coursed through those assembled, before concentrating on Voldemort. Ginny inhaled sharply as the light left her, and heard those around her do the same.

Voldemort gasped with pain as the power flooded through him, and for a second he glowed with a bright light, before returning to normal. Well, as normal as Voldemort ever looked. There was something different about him, something that Ginny couldn't place. His eyes glowed a brighter red, and he looked stronger, somehow.

"I am all powerful!" he cried, as he spread his arms wide. "And now," he said evilly, advancing on Harry. "I shall take care of you, Harry Potter."