Harry Potter and the Union of the Founders

*******

Chapter Two:

The Shrieking Shack

Draco Malfoy sighed, leaning against the rickety wall of the Shrieking Shack. The effects of Illio Euphorium still lingered on him, the faint smoke that always accompanied the illegal spell only just dissipating.

He took a deep breath, trying to hold onto the moment as the last, perfectly blissful feelings finally began to fade.

He had managed to ditch the other Slytherins back in The Three Broomsticks. They had been too busy blabbering on about the past summer, which Draco thought was just plain stupid to do in public. Not that they would really listen to him on this point anymore.

He sighed. His arm still hurt.

He growled and pointed his wand at himself. He was about to utter the Euphoria charm again when he heard footsteps approaching, the squeaking of the stairs making him stiffen in alarm. Hastily, he stood up, his wand at the ready. He could hear giggling, and high-pitched voices. Probably some dumb first years, he thought with annoyance. He had figured that the Shrieking Shack would have been the one place nosy people would stay away from, given the rumors of it being haunted. However, he had clearly underestimated the stupidity of most Hogwarts students, as he could hear their eager voices getting closer.

Draco stepped quickly over the aged floors, avoiding the parts he knew would squeak and give away his location, and then finally hid himself in one of the old, run down closets, far out of sight.

Through the cracks in the door, he caught a glimpse of red and gold, and with a scowl, he realized that he had been interrupted by not only dumb students, but dumb Gryffindors at that. They weren't first years though; he recognized the fiery red hair of the youngest of the Weasleys, and he scowled even more.

Weasley was sniffing the air, looking puzzled. Draco mentally swore; he hoped she did not know enough about illegal spells to realize the residual left by the Euphoria charm. Her friends, three jabbering girls who were giggling as they walked around the room, seemed to be quite oblivious to the light smoke in the room.

Draco held his breath. Leave already, dammit, he thought in annoyance. He did not particularly feel like waiting around all day for them to scatter, so he carefully pointed his wand through one of the cracks at the corner of the room, where a few broken trinkets were piled together.

"Waddiwasi," he whispered, and with a sudden crack, one of the objects shot upwards from the ground, bouncing back and forth between the walls.

One of the girls let out a scream, followed by another girl, and he heard the scurrying of light footsteps as they ran from the room and down the stairs. Draco snickered quietly. A smug grin on his face, he opened the door and stepped out of hiding.

He wasn't prepared for Ginny Weasley to hex him on the spot, and as such, the full body bind caught him by complete surprise. He could only stare out of shocked eyes as he dropped sideways to the floor, mentally cursing the entire lot of Weasleys as he fell.

***

Ginny was already antsy as she followed her friends up the stairs of The Shrieking Shack, the rickety building seeming to shake as much as her legs were with each step. That feeling of unease blew into full alarm when the objects in the room suddenly seemed to come alive and strike violently against the walls, and she had almost followed them out of the building when she heard something odd in the room.

It had been brief, but she could have sworn it sounded like someone laughing. Her wand drawn, she turned around the room slowly. Just as she turned, she heard the creak of a door opening, and without thinking, she spun around and cried out, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Slowly, eyes wide in fascination, she watched as the frozen body of none other than Draco Malfoy fall to the ground. He landed with a loud crash, and she was almost nervous that the whole building was going to cave in under him. His eyes were also wide, but with obvious shock, and he seemed to be glaring at her, yelling at her silently to release him.

Ginny knew in her head that she should let him go and get the hell out of there. But she couldn't help herself; a slow grin crept onto her face, and she burst out into laughter. Her friends were probably already halfway back to Hogwarts by now, and they had no way of knowing that they had missed the perfect opportunity to see the notorious Draco Malfoy flat on his side, completely at her mercy.

His eyes seemed incredulous as she laughed at him, and Ginny couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor bastard. This was the second time she had gotten the best of him; she remembered quite well how surprised he had looked last year when she had cursed him in the face with her famous Bat Bogey hex. Poor bastard indeed. Not that he really deserved that pity, she amended quickly, remembering how much hurt he and his family had caused her and her friends. Her expression quickly became somber at that thought. It was because of the Malfoys that Ginny had lost her innocence so early in life, because of the Malfoys that Hagrid had almost gotten sacked, and because of the Malfoys that Harry had been tricked into going to the Ministry of Magic that fateful night and lost his godfather to the darkness behind the veil.

"Not so smug anymore now, are you Malfoy?" Ginny said quietly, looking at his pathetic form on the ground. He was really rather skinny, she noted as her eyes flicked over his body. The girls would never talk about his body, she thought with a slight grin. However, the fact that she was even looking brought her to her senses, and a faint shade of rose tinted her cheeks immediately.

"What were you doing here anyway?" she asked quickly, hoping her voice sounded steady. "And where are your little bodyguards? Off somewhere stuffing their faces?"

She couldn't be sure, but she could have sworn Malfoy looked like he quite agreed with her for a moment. However, that feeling disappeared in a second as she saw his eyes harden again, and it was almost as though he were threatening her to release him or else.

Ginny swallowed. She suddenly had the sense that she was in over her head right now. She was all alone in the creepiest building in Britain with Draco Malfoy, who looked like he might kill her if she let him go.

But she had to, didn't she? He was a prefect, and she had a feeling she'd be losing a hell of a lot of points for this, and probably more every second she left him bound like that. There was also the possibility of his cronies coming here for him, and she did not want to be here when they did.

Besides, she couldn't find it in herself to be just plain cruel to him, no matter what he or his family stood for. Sighing, her mind made up, Ginny pointed her wand at him.

"Finite incantatum," she muttered, and she could see the spell release him.

He began to move slowly, forcing himself upright. Ginny knew that the aftereffects of the body bind left the muscles still relatively weak; a good thing, she thought, as Malfoy would have otherwise probably attacked her right then and there. As it was, she backed away from him a bit, watching as he struggled to stand.

He was almost on his feet when his leg jerked to the side awkwardly, making him lose his balance. Without even realizing what she was doing, Ginny rushed forward, taking the brunt of his weight as he nearly fell.

"Get the hell off, Weasley," he spat out, but he was leaning heavily on her, his arm draped over her shoulders. His body was apparently not cooperating with his mind's orders. The look of disdain and outright anger on his face made Ginny's skin crawl, but she knew that if she let him go right now, they'd both end up falling.

"I said get off, brat," Malfoy muttered again, but Ginny didn't move away. Instead, she pushed him back towards the wall, practically having to drag him down into a sitting position. She leaned him against the dusty wall, and then moved away.

This was odd, she thought with a frown. Usually, the muscles weren't this weak after the body bind, but Malfoy was practically an invalid at the moment. Ginny thought back to her DADA classes; the only reason the victim of a body bind curse would be this lethargic would be because they had already been hit by some other, powerful spell before.

"What were you doing, Malfoy?" Ginny said with genuine curiosity.

"Sod off, Weasel," he retorted weakly, his head drooping. He raised one arm slowly, very slowly, to his forehead, as though trying to force away some kind of headache. Ginny suddenly remembered the strange smoke and smell she had noticed earlier, before all of this had happened. Her eyes widened in understanding.

"Illegal drug spells, Malfoy?" she said incredulously. She could not believe that he would be that plain stupid. "Do you realize what you could have done? What was it? Delirium? Euphoria?"

"None of your damn business," Malfoy snapped, but she saw him wince as she said the last word. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Malfoy, you're lucky you're not dead."

"And you're lucky I'm on the ground right now, Weasley."

Ginny rolled her eyes and moved towards the door.

"Gonna go run to Potty, Weasley?" His voice was tired, but there was still that same hard, jeering edge to it. "Going to go tell on me now?"

Ginny clenched her fists. She spun around, taking a few quick steps back to him. She knelt down by his side, knowing full well he couldn't do anything to hurt her even if he wanted, and glared at him.

"My eyes are hurting, Weasley," he said with a sneer. "Get your face out of my sight and maybe I'll feel better."

"Why do you say all those horrible things to people?" Ginny asked. "What did I ever do to you, Malfoy?"

"Bat Bogey Hex much, Weasley? My muscles are weak right now, not my memory."

He actually looked indignant about it. It made for a rather curiously amusing expression. Ginny almost laughed again. He glared at her for a moment, and then began to try to stand, slowly and wincing for most of the time. Ginny watched him, eyebrows raised, as he fell two more times before collapsing again, wincing.

"Malfoy, do you want help?" she said slowly.

His expression felt like daggers. He was obviously about to mouth off at her again for even daring to suggest such a thing.

Ginny sighed, standing up quickly. She really did not want to just sit there and listen to him insult her or her family again.

"Weasley," he said suddenly, just as she had almost reached the door.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked quietly, turning around to face him again. He had his eyes closed, his jaws clenched tightly.

"I..."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Spit it out, Malfoy. You haven't lost your voice or anything. Or maybe it's just too hard for you to properly ask someone for help, because-"

"Sod it all, Weasley, just shut up and help me up!"

He looked really angry, but Ginny's own temper flared.

"Don't order me around, Malfoy," she barked at him, walking back over. "You're the one who was stupid enough to be fooling around with drug spells and then immature enough to try to scare us from here. I'm being nice here, Malfoy, so I'd suggest you change your bloody attitude."

His eyes reflected surprise at her sudden outburst. Ginny half expected him to retort with some sort of nasty curse, but he was actually quiet. He didn't say anything at all, just glared at her for a while with those strangely haunting grey eyes of his.

"Well?" he said after a few more moments. "Is the good little Gryffindor planning on helping me up in this lifetime?"

Ginny glared at him, but she moved over and let him lean against her, pulling him upwards. His arm draped over her shoulder, and she grabbed it tightly for a moment as she steadied both of them. However, as her fingers dug into his forearm, she felt a sudden burst of pain hit her, hard. At the same time, Malfoy let out a hiss and promptly crashed into her, his weight knocking her off balance. Ginny had a moment to realize that this was going to hurt before both of them tumbled to the ground, Malfoy landing ungracefully on top of her, his face inches from her own.

"Get. Off. Malfoy."

"I. Can't. Move. Weasley."

"GINNY? What the bloody hell are you doing?"

Oh no, Ginny thought with a grimace, as she angled her head slightly to see her brother standing in the doorway, livid and shouting at the top of his lungs, with a pale Harry and a startled Hermione right behind him. This is not good...

***

Harry felt sick.

The three of them had been walking through Hogsmeade when they had run into Jessa, Mara, and Bryana, who were all extraordinarily pale. They had ranted about ghosts and The Shrieking Shack, and Ginny being still stuck there. He, Ron, and Hermione had taken off at a dead run towards the old abandoned building.

They had had no idea of what was going on, but something about the situation had apparently struck all three of them as being dangerous. They had entered the building, hearing nothing, but then had been startled by a loud, resounding crash from upstairs. Ron had ran up first, and after hearing his roar of shock and anger, Harry had raced up the stairs after him with Hermione, heart racing. He'd heard Ginny's name being shouted, and he had feared the worst.

Well, now that he could see what was going on, it wasn't the worst exactly, but it was pretty damn close. Harry couldn't help the shock on his face.

Ginny? With Malfoy?!!

Ron looked like he was about to tear Malfoy to bits, and before Harry or Hermione had a chance to act, the tall redhead had already lunged at Malfoy. In one quick movement, he hauled Malfoy up and tossed him unceremoniously away from Ginny, who was quickly getting up and brushing the dust from her robes. Her face was flushed, and she looked on guiltily at the three of them. Ron was eyeing Malfoy with death in his eyes, but he was talking to Ginny.

"What the hell is going on, Ginny?" he shouted, and all of them winced. Harry looked at Ginny, hoping her answer would be sensible enough to explain all of this.

"Malfoy erm, fell," Ginny said lamely, and Harry felt his stomach give a nasty twist. She was still looking extremely guilty about something.

"Ron! How hard did you throw him?" Hermione was looking aghast as she peered over at Malfoy, who Harry realized had not moved since Ron had pulled him off Ginny.

"No harder than he deserved," Ron grumbled, but he was looking a bit nervous now as he also looked at Malfoy.

"Ginny? What happened here?" Hermione cast a suspicious look between Ginny and Malfoy, one that Harry noted Ginny was avoiding like mad.

"I erm, ran into Malfoy here," Ginny said slowly. "The girls and I were exploring for a bit, and he was trying to scare us with some sort of stupid spell, and when they ran away, he came out and accidentally fell...on me."

It was clearly not the whole truth, but Ginny did not seem to want to say anything else. Ron seemed to have calmed down a bit, but he was still glaring at Malfoy as though he wanted to throttle him. Harry felt some of that same anger, but mostly he still felt sick. For some reason, his memory was deciding to fixate on the image of Ginny lying under Malfoy, the two of them tangled in each other's arms.

He shut his eyes quickly, trying to shake the image out of his head.

"We should probably go," Hermione said then, much to Harry's relief. She had always seemed to sense his moods, and Harry was pretty sure that if he stayed any longer in the same room with Malfoy, there would be violence of some sort. Hastily, Hermione walked over to Ginny, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders and guiding her to the door. "Come on, Ron!" she called over her shoulder.

Ron glared at Malfoy for a moment longer before mumbling something under his breath and following the girls out the door. He seemed to realize that Harry wasn't moving, and he tossed a curious look at him.

"Harry? Let's go, mate."

Harry nodded and moved to the door. He saw Ron and the girls heading down the narrow stairs, but he did not move to join them just yet. He turned, fixing his gaze on Malfoy, who had still not moved.

"If you hurt her, Malfoy," he said slowly, not sure where he was going with all of this. "If you hurt her at all..."

To his surprise and great irritation, Malfoy was chuckling softly.

"What's so damn funny?!" Harry spat out, clenching his fists. Malfoy was still laughing, albeit weakly, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"WHAT IS IT, MALFOY?!" Harry yelled this time, not caring that he sounded like he was having a fit. The sudden burst of sound made Malfoy stop, but he was still grinning.

"You're funny, Potter," he said slowly, shaking his head. "All this talk about me hurting little Ginny. I'm the least of your problems now, Potty. We all have bigger things to deal with. Remember that lesson I talked about before?"

"I'm not afraid of you, Malfoy," Harry said tiredly. All of his anger had somehow faded as he continued to stare at the other boy. He was sick of arguing and yelling and being angry.

To his annoyance, Malfoy only laughed again.

"I'm not the one you should be scared of, Potter," he said with a dry laugh. "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now. Your parents died to save you, didn't they? And then your crazy godfather. Who'll be next, Potter? Who'll be next?"

Harry felt his stomach give a nasty sharp turn as Malfoy's laughter sounded once more, and before he realized what he was doing, he fled the room at a full run, hoping against all hope that Malfoy didn't really know what the hell he had been talking about.