The Arcs of Destiny

Chapter VI:

No Talking

'Making my way downtown Walking fast

Faces passed And I'm home bound

Staring blankly ahead Just making my way

Making my way Through the crowd '

-Vanessa Carlton, A Thousand Miles

While Ginny was gone, Draco sat on her bed to think. Ever since he and Harry had gotten here, the whole Weasley family had been a bit overly nice to him as if they thought he was too delicate to handle their criticisms. Then, Ginny had offered her room to Draco and it felt like everything changed. Draco knew that she had done it for her family's sake and that she didn't really like him. All that was evident when he looked into her eyes when she stared at him after reading her letter. He had seen the confusion that lay behind, the hatred that was scattered, and the nice-girl image that lay on top. He knew her family was below his, so why did he feel like he was happy that she had offered her room? Why did it feel like something had clicked in his heart? At least it was better than sleeping in Ron's room. Draco shivered in disgust.

Ginny bounded into the room with a sleeping bag in her hands. She threw it at Draco who muttered, "Ow!" when he didn't catch it. It fell to a pile on the floor in front of him. Draco abandoned all thoughts and picked up the sleeping bag.

"Oh, sorry about that!" Ginny said. She ran into the walk-in closet and Draco could hear the scraping of hangers. He laid his sleeping bag carefully on the floor. All he needed was a pillow.

"You don't mind if I borrow a pillow?" Draco asked. He looked at all the pillows on Ginny's bed. Some were red, some were gold, some were small, some were large, and some were fluffy. "Fluffy pillows?" Draco whispered out loud.

"Take any you want," Ginny answered, "except the fluffy ones."

Draco raised an eyebrow and grabbed a large, gold one. Ginny appeared then, changed into a pair of pink pyjamas. Draco looked into the closet where she had come from and asked, "What's beyond there?" There was a door open on the other side of the closet.

"That's the bathroom," Ginny told him. She jumped onto the bed and under the covers. "It's pink though. You may not like the colour."

"Pink is fine," Draco said. He got into the sleeping bag and put the pillow underneath his head. "Just as long as it's not in my clothes."

"You're not going to change into a pair of pyjamas?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"Don't have any," Draco replied simply. Ginny gasped.

"No pyjamas?" Ginny nearly shrieked. She jumped out of bed. "I'll see that you get a pair from Ron, or Harry."

"No, Ginny," Draco said, astonished. "I'm really fine."

"You're sleeping with your everyday clothes on," Ginny said impatiently. "I don't classify that as fine." She ran out into the hallway.

"No, Gin-" Draco started, but got out of the sleeping bag and ran into the hallway just in time to stop Ginny from knocking on Ron's door. Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her back into her bedroom, closing the door behind him. "I'm fine, Ginny."

Ginny scowled and got back into her bed. Draco shook his head and got back into his sleeping bag. It wasn't long until he heard the soft, rythymic breathing of sleep from Ginny. He closed his eyes, but sleep never seemed to come that quickly to him.

He lay awake for half of the night listening to Ginny's breathing. She seemed so peaceful, he would hate to disturb her. Loud snores were coming from across the hall which were probably Ron's since Harry didn't snore that loudly. Draco wondered if Harry was sleeping at all.

Footsteps were softly creaking across the hallway. The door to Ginny's bedroom opened a crack and Draco pretended to be asleep as a beam of light fell into the room, illuminating Draco. Harry must be awake. The door closed, leaving the room dark again. Draco opened his eyes and sat up. He listened to the footsteps go back across the hall and close the door. Why would Harry need to look into Ginny's room?

A noise from the bed disturbed Draco's thoughts. He turned to see Ginny roll over, whimpering in her sleep. Her arms started to flail and Draco knew she was having a nightmare. He got out of his sleeping bag and cautiously approached the bed. Ginny rolled over and jumped in her sleep. Draco sat on the bed and put a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "Wake up," he whispered. Ginny rolled over again and he withdrew his hand quickly as she tried to hit him. Her head whipped around and Draco could see pain and fear cross her face. Suddenly, she bolted upright, awake and breathing heavily, beads of sweat trickling down her face. Though, they weren't the only beads trickling down he face.

Draco realized that she was crying. Tears were falling down her cheeks and, unsure of what to do, Draco sat beside her and pulled her to him. She rested her head against his shoulder and Draco awkwardly lay backwards, trying to get comfortable. "Shhh," Draco whispered, trying to comfort her. "It's okay. The nightmare is gone." She didn't stop crying. "Do you want to talk about it? It helps if you do and I'm a great listener, even if I'm not a great guy."

Ginny smiled and clung to him tighter. It was an experience Draco never had before. Comforting somebody who held you back. Ginny calmed down a bit and started her tale. "Last night, I had fallen asleep by the lake. I go there often to draw, but I didn't mean to fall asleep. When I woke up, I decided to go home, but then I met a guy along the way out of the forest who looked just exactly like Harry. He brought me to a river that flows into the lake and pushed me in. Then, he held me underneath ...the water. The only...the only reason I'm still...alive is because...Ron rescued me. I thought I would be fine about it, but I guess I was wrong."

Draco had experienced almost drowning once at the hands of someone else, but he didn't feel like sharing that experience with her. Instead, he said, "I can relate," and held her closer.

"Really?" Ginny asked. "What was it like afterwards?"

"I had nightmares too," Draco said, staring off into the distance. "But I never had anyone to talk about it with. If you have anymore nightmares, you can talk to me."

Ginny smiled and relaxed into his body. Soon, both had drifted off to sleep.

*****

When Hermione had woken up the next morning, the first thing she did was look at the time on her alarm clock. It was 7:50 am. Hermione groaned, wondering why she always had to get up early. She pulled back the covers and got out of bed, wincing at the aches in her muscles. She limped over to the mirror and looked at her image. The cut on her cheek from her dream was still there, but it was healing pretty quickly. A new cut with dried blood around it shone on her forehead where she had hit the tombstone. The cut on her lip was swelling and the flesh around it had turned purplish. Another bruise was forming on the top-most of her forehead and she reminded herself to never head-butt again. Her family was going to freak if they saw her like this.

Hermione opened her door and poked her head outside to see if anyone was in the washroom. The bathroom was open, so she scurried inside and closed the door just before her mother came out of the kitchen. She splashed water on her face and washed off the dried blood. Then, she took some concealer and tried to hide the bruises, but she didn't have to. They were starting to fade away while only cuts remained.

"Oh, thank God," Hermione said. Cuts she could live with, but bruises would look like she had been beaten up (which was technically true) and she didn't want to scare her family, especially her little sister. She put the concealer away and looked at her hair which was getting out of control. She pulled it into two pigtail braids and walked out of the washroom and down the hall. In the living room, she found her mother and father sitting on the couch, watching the morning news. Hermione limped into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. After making one, she downed a couple of gulps and went back into the living room and sat down on the rocking chair beside the couch. Both of her parents greeted her, looking at her quickly before turning back to the news. As soon as they realized what they had seen, they turned back to Hermione who grinned mischievously and waved.

"Hi!" Hermione said.

Elizabeth rushed over to her daughter. "Hermione, what happened?" She pulled Hermione off of the rocking chair and brought her over to the couch.

"I had a dream last night," Hermione told her parents. "I went onto the Internet and found out that the spell the demon guy performed is in a dangerous book-"

"The book bit you?" Elizabeth interrupted, confused.

"No, the book is very rare, so I can't get it," Hermione corrected. "Anyway, I also found on the Internet that my powers are slayer powers. I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't so I decided to test out my powers to see if they were actually real. So I went to a cemetery to fight a vampire. I ended up fighting three...at the same time."

"Hermione," Elizabeth chided.

"You shouldn't have done that," Xander scolded. "That was very dangerous. You could have been killed."

"Look, I'm okay," Hermione told them impatiently. "I had bruises earlier but they disappeared. I'm going to be fine."

"You don't know that," Elizabeth said, worriedly as Hermione got up to go into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. "You don't have the proper slayer training." She followed her daughter into the kitchen.

"In time, I'm sure I will," Hermione assured her, getting out a box of cereal and a bowl. "I could go train at the gym downstairs. I'm sure they won't mind."

Elizabeth sighed. "Well, alright, but take your father with you. He's very good at martial arts."

"Why, thank you," Xander said from the couch. Elizabeth grinned.

"Fine," Hermione said. Her mother left the kitchen while Hermione poured her cereal. After breakfast, she and Xander changed into their jogging clothes and went down to the gym. They got a private section to themselves where Xander taught her the martial arts. When it came time to practising the moves, Hermione beat her father every time at his own moves.

Then it came to lunch. They went for a jog outside and stopped at a hotdog stand. Then, they sat on a bench discussing proper techniques in fighting. After lunch, they went back to practising. On their last round, Hermione flipped Xander onto his back. "Ha ha," Hermione said, standing over him.

"Very funny," Xander said. "You could've broken my back."

"Isn't that what I'm aiming for?" Hermione asked, folding her arms.

"Yes, but don't break your father's back," Xander said, laughing. "Now, help me up."

Hermione grabbed his hand and he tried to pull her down, but she was too strong for him. She pulled him back onto his feet.

"I guess that's enough for today," Xander said, rubbing his back. "Now that you have almost managed to break my back, I think we're finished for today."

"Oh, stop complaining," Hermione scolded. She grabbed her water bottle and started for the door. "See ya, Dad."

"Hey, wait up," Xander said, grabbing his own water bottle.

*****

Back in Canada, it was anything but friendly times. All the Weasleys, Harry, and Draco were sleeping peacefully now, but they wouldn't be later. This new big bad that was now being talked about heavily in the Wizarding World is just about to make his first presentation.

In a large building not too far away from Mellowside, a large flame appeared. The night was dark and the flame cast light along the many pillars in the hall. The flame stayed there, igniting nothing but itself.

"Do it," the flame whispered to the shadows. Out of the shadows came ten demons in human form. They bowed towards the flame and left the room through a wide archway.

In the next room, there was a large circle drawn in blood upon the floor. The ten demons stationed themselves around it and began to chant. The circle of blood glowed for a second before disappearing entirely. Five of the demons placed five crystals on the floor to form a pentagram. Beams of light connected the crystals together, forming a cage. Then, white mists appeared from all corners of the room and were sucked into the cage where they remained, captured.

Upon completion of this task, one of the demons went back into the other room where the flame was. He knelt on one knee before the flame and said, "Done."

The flame changed into a man with a long black cloak with a hood hiding his face. The mouth, which was barely visible, twisted into a smile and lightning forked outside the windows.

*****

The bright morning sunshine lit up the small room that was Ron's in Paradise Manor. Ron yawned and sat up. Harry was still sleeping on the floor. Ron got out of bed and put his slippers on. He left the room soundlessly and went into the washroom where he brushed his teeth. Then, he made his way down the hall and into the kitchen where he found Draco, dressed in a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt, pouring himself some coffee. Neither boy exchanged words as Ron poured himself some milk and found it sour.

Choking, he spit out the milk in the sink and caught Draco smirking. When Ron turned to look at Draco, his arms folded across his chest, Draco put up his hands in mock surrender. Neither dared to speak to one another because they knew they would end up fighting. He then poured the rest of the milk out and checked the expiration date on the carton. It was dated for five days ago. Hadn't Molly bought another carton of milk yesterday in preparation for Harry and Draco's arrival? He looked in the refrigerator for any other cartons but found none. Shaking his head, he wrote 'milk' on the grocery list on the fridge.

Draco went to sit on the couch and watch television while Ron went back to his room to change. By now, Ginny was also up too, and dressed as well, and as he passed her in the hallway, he said, "Hey, Gin," but no words came out. They both stopped in their tracks and backed up to face each other and tried to speak, but still no words came out. Then, they mouthed to each other.

"What's happened?" Ginny tried to ask, wringing her hands.

Ron lay a hand on the door while he thought about it. Then, he banged his hand against the wall as he remembered that Draco was staying in the house. Furious, Ron stomped into the living room and in front of the television.

"Hey!" Draco tried to say as Ron blocked his view of the TV.

"You!" Ron tried to say, pointing his finger at Draco. "You did this!"

"What?" Draco tried to ask, confused. "I didn't do anything."

"Sure, sure," Ron tried to say sarcastically. "You still did this!"

"Ron," Ginny mouthed as she stepped between Draco, who was now standing, and Ron. Then, she pointed to the hallway. "Harry!"

"So?" Ron asked.

"He might know what is going on," Ginny said. She led the way to Ron's room with Ron following next and Draco following last. Ginny shook Harry awake as Ron and Draco stood in the hallway.

Harry woke up, still a little groggy and confused. "What's going on?" he tried to ask. As he realized that he couldn't talk, Harry jumped out of the sleeping bag. "What happened to my voice?"

"Not your voice, Harry," Ron tried to say. "Our voices. I didn't think he knew anything." He then left the room and went into the living room with everyone following behind him. There, they found Molly on her way downstairs into the living room.

"Good morning, every-" she tried to say, but stopped in mid-sentence and midway down the stairs. "Well, that's odd."

"We're right there with ya, Mom," Ron tried to tell her. The rest of the group shrugged and went to sit in front of the television.

The rest of the morning was mayhem. The twins hurried to their F&G Inc. office building on Carrot Dr. and Arthur Apparated to the town hall. Soon Molly had left to get the groceries while the stores were still open, leaving Ginny, Ron, Harry, Draco, and a still-sleeping Percy in the house.

****

The four teenagers sat quietly on the couch while the rest of the family, except for Percy, ran out of the house. Neither teen tried to speak to each other until Ginny remembered something in the letter that Hermione had said. She got up and flew into her bedroom to look for the letter.

She couldn't remember where she had seen it last. She looked on her desk and in its drawers, she looked on her bedside tables and on the counter in her bathroom but found nothing. She looked on the floor and underneath her bed. Then she pulled off all the blankets on her bed to see if the letter was still on the bed. A movement caught her eye and she saw Draco pick up something off the floor and hold it out to her questioningly.

Ginny nodded and smiled, taking the letter from Draco. She opened it and read it, to make sure that it was the right one. When she was satisfied, she put the letter in her back pocket.

"Can you help me?" she mouthed to Draco, gesturing to the blankets that were on the floor. Draco nodded and together, the pair neatly made the bed. Ginny watched Draco as they did this and noticed that his expression gave nothing of his feelings away about the night before. She guessed that it had probably felt awkward for him as it did for her, but she had to admit, she felt strangely safe in Draco's arms.

Pushing the thought out of her head, she neatly tucked in the last blanket under the front pillows and jumped onto the bed. Draco sat beside her and lay back against the pillows, closing his eyes. Ginny lay down and took out the letter, unfolded it, and reread the letter. Frowning, she tried to read the paragraph out loud. "'If the girl said 'Can't even talk,' then you might not be able to speak soon. Buy a chalkboard if that happens.'" She looked at Draco and thought that he might as well read the letter. She punched his leg and rolled over onto her stomach, giving him the letter and trying to say, "Read this." Then, she crawled off the bed and ran out of the bedroom, heading for the utility room downstairs where Ron had found the sleeping bags just last night.