The Hospital Wing and the Astronomy Tower

It had been a few days since Draco had been released from the Hospital Wing, and he was trying his best to avoid Crabbe and Goyle. He sat in the packed Slytherin common room not speaking to anyone, just listening to the conversations of others. Pansy and Millicent kept glancing at him every now and then, making him feel very slightly uncomfortable. He had just finished his homework, and his brain was exhausted so he tried not to think about the upcoming sacrifice.

Just then, Blaise entered the common room and hurried to Draco. "We have to go to the library," she said. "Ginny asked to meet us there."

Draco followed, reluctantly. The last place he wanted to be was in the library, but then again, at least he wouldn't see Crabbe and Goyle in there.

Ginny was sitting at a table in the library, reading a thick, heavy looking book. When Draco and Blaise sat down she looked up. Her face looked tired, but determined.

"So what's up?" Blaise asked.

"Last year," said Ginny. "I remember Professor Figg saying something in Defense Against the Dark Arts about Slytherin's sacrifice. It had something to do with the unforgivable curses, and how all three of them had to be used at some point."

"Yeah, well, she isn't here to help us now, is she?" said Draco.

"That's not the point," said Ginny. "The point is that somebody's going to be tortured, and somebody's going to die. And it's all going to happen before the sacrifice."

"It better be a Mudblood who dies," said Draco. "We could do with less of them."

Ginny shot him a stern look. "You're so cruel," she said. "I don't know if I want to help you anymore."

"Sorry," said Draco. "It won't happen again."

"We could always get Professor Black to help us," Blaise said.

Draco and Ginny looked at her for moment before understanding what she was talking about.

"Sirius Black?" said Draco. "You must be joking; I don't think he'd ever help us."

"He would," said Blaise. "I'm sure of it. He's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this school's ever had. He'll know all about it."

"I liked Professor Lupin," said Ginny. "He was a good teacher."

Draco looked doubtful. "When did this become a teacher discussion group?" he said. "And anyway, you don't think he's a good teacher, you just enjoy spending hours day-dreaming about him."

"I do not," said Blaise.

"Yes you do," said Draco. "But that's got nothing to do with this. He isn't going to help us anyway, and I don't think we'll even need his help."

"Well I'm still asking him for help," said Blaise.

"All right," said Ginny. "You do that. But Draco and I can find the answers without his help, I only mentioned Professor Figg because she said something about a sacrifice, I didn't say we needed her for this."

"You and Draco," said Blaise. "I take it that means you're together again?"

"You said you sorted it all out," said Draco. "So you explained the whole situation to my father?"

"Oh no," said Blaise. "He's the last person I'd want to tell. I only persuaded Weasley, Harry, and... Uh oh, I haven't told Finnigan yet."

"What?" said Ginny. "It's been days, and here I was thinking he knew. No wonder he asked if I wanted to do anything more fun than homework tonight."

"I'll be back," said Blaise, rushing out of the library.

"This is bad," said Draco. "I'm going to have to face my father, this is really bad."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," said Ginny.

"You're a Weasley," Draco said. "And it'll be hard enough settling this thousand year old feud as it is."

"You're over-reacting," said Ginny. "And don't worry about it, we can't even ensure that you'll still be here by the summer."

***

"Oh, Seamus!" Blaise called down the corridor.

Seamus Finnigan stopped walking and turned around. "Stay away from me," he said, taking a few steps back.

Blaise stepped forward. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said. "All right, it might hurt, internally."

"What are you talking about?" asked Seamus, looking petrified, his eyes wide and afraid.

"You and Ginny are over," said Blaise. "So don't go stalking her, she's with Draco now."

"Okay," said Seamus, quickly. "Just don't hurt me."

"Aren't you hurt enough?" said Blaise.

"Yes, of course I am," Seamus replied. "But I'll let Ginny make her own decisions, I'm not going to take your word for it."

Blaise rolled her eyes. "I'm telling the truth," she said.

"Whatever," said Seamus.

"You know," Blaise said, smiling slightly. "You are quite good-looking, and I do hate Lavender Brown..."

"What about Harry?" said Seamus.

"Okay, fine," Blaise muttered. "But I think you can find somebody else for the time-being. What do you think of Mandy Brocklehurst? She is rather annoying, but she's better than Lavender Brown."

"What are you on?" asked Seamus. "Get away from me."

"Come on, Seamus," said Blaise. "It couldn't hurt. And I know that you're friend Verity might be expelled from Durmstrang and come to Hogwarts next year, but untill then, Mandy should do just well."

"You scare me," said Seamus. "And why do you know so much? I thought no-one knew about Verity's expulsion."

"I know a lot more than you may think," said Blaise. "I know how you feel about Verity, and I know that she returns those feelings, but neither of them have established that."

"Ron was right," said Seamus. "You are a freak."

"Yes I am," said Blaise. "But it isn't my fault. I was cursed with the dream-walker gene."

"You... you're..." Seamus spluttered. "You? You're... you can dreamwalk?"

Blaise nodded. "It isn't fun," she said. "So I don't do it anymore. Or at least not as much."

"You really, really scare me," said Seamus. "You are a really scary person."

"Do you remember that summer when we were eight?" Blaise asked suddenly.

Seamus looked taken aback; he didn't think anyone remembered that. His best friend Verity had still been living in England, and he had visited for the summer. Blaise's and Verity's parents had been quite good friends, and he had been introduced to Blaise that summer. All this time, he had thought Blaise and Verity had both forgotten about it all, so he had never thought about it again.

"So do you remember?" said Blaise. "Do you remember how we put slugs in Draco's bed?"

"None of us liked Malfoy," said Seamus.

"Neither of us," Blaise corrected him. "Verity did. Remember how she got all mad at us for the slugs?"

"Oh yeah," said Seamus. It was so strange to think back to the days before Hogwarts. Ever since he had entered Hogwarts, he had let go of his previous childhood, and had started over."

"Those were the good old days," said Blaise, her voice sounding very distant.Â

***

Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room and spotted Harry and Ron playing chess in front of the fire.

"Ron, Harry," she said. The two boys looked up. "I spoke to Professor Dumbledore," she continued. "He knows all about what's going on, and he told me that this Valentine's Day ball is just a diversion to protect the students."

"Did he say who the sacrifice is?" Harry asked eagerly.

Hermione shook her head. "He knows who it is, but he wouldn't tell me. All he said was to tell you not to go wandering around trying to save the day. He said it'll all be fine as long as we take no notice. If You Know Who doesn't get his sacrifice by midnight, then nothing can happen."

"Who said he won't get his sacrifice?" Ron asked.

"Because Professor Dumbledore said he's going to keep all the students away from the Chamber of Secrets. Year five, six, and seven pupils will be at the ball, and the younger pupils are going to be in the Hogsmeade Museum."

"Why are the pupils all going to be split up like that?" asked Harry.

"I don't know," said Hermione. "But I'm willing to guess that it's because the sacrifice is going to be an older pupil."

"So why not take the older pupils to Hogsmeade?" Harry questioned.

"I don't know," said Hermione. "But there certainly has to be a good reason for all this."

"Didn't that article you found say something about some other people who get sacrificed for power, wealth, and eternal darkness?" Ron asked.

"Oh yeah," said Harry. "Somebody is put under the Imperius curse to represent the dark lord's power, somebody is put under the Cruciatus curse because of some connection to great wealth, and then another person is hit with the Avada Kedavra and put into eternal darkness."

"Yes," said Hermione. "And then blood is drawn from the enemy, the friend, and the beholder."

"Did you find out what the beholder is?" Ron asked.

"Yes, it's the sacrificed person," said Hermione. "And then the sacrificed person's soul is plunged into eternal darkness, and it over-powered by the dark lord, bringing great wealth to the underworld."

"Wow," said Ron. "That can't be good."

"No it can't," said Hermione. "And the sacrifice is used as a sort of robot."

"A what?"Â said Ron.

"A robot," Hermione replied. "A machine if you will. And he or she will just be a soulless body and last forever, to serve darkness."

"Yeah," said Harry. "And they'll be used to kill Muggles, and such."

"That is definitely not good," said Ron.

***

Draco and Ginny sat in the library in silence, Ginny skimming through books for the word sacrifice, Draco watching her. Â

After a few minutes, Draco felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, and to his great disgust, he saw Vincent Crabbe standing close behind him. "What do you want?" Draco said unpleasantly.

Crabbe held out a piece of parchment. "Can you read this?" he said.

Draco took the parchment, shooting Crabbe a dirty look. Goyle hovered behind Crabbe, trying to see over Draco's shoulder.

"You're invited to Slytherin's Sacrifice," Draco read. Ginny looked up at him, and he continued to read. "When: February the thirteenth. Where: The Chamber of Secrets. Please be at the chamber by eight o' clock in the evening. To enter the chamber: Go to the bathroom entitled 'Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom,' there will be a fluent parsel mouth awaiting your arrival."

"What is this?" Ginny asked, taking the parchment from Draco. "Is this some sort of joke? Where the Hell did you get this?"

Crabbe shrugged. "Gregory says we got it while we were in the other dimension."

"You mean the place where you turned gay?" said Draco.

Crabbe and Goyle nodded.

"Who gave it to you?" asked Ginny.

"It was this creature," Goyle replied. "He was quite repulsive, rat-like appearance, short, tubby, and a wheezy voice."

"Wormtail," said Ginny.

"No, I'm not!" cried Goyle, earning a menacing look from Madam Pince, the librarian.

"No, Wormtail," said Ginny. "Harry and Ron told me about him, he's Voldemort's apprentice."

"You said Voldemort," said Draco. "And you didn't even flinch!"

"This is the key!" said Ginny, ignoring Draco. "This is exactly when and where the sacrifice takes place!"

"February the thirteenth," said Draco. "That gives us what, two weeks?"

"Two and a half," said Ginny. "Enough time to stop the whole thing from happening."

"But wait," said Goyle. "I wanna go! Me and Vincent both wanna go!"

"Get lost," said Malfoy.

"Can I have my invitation back now?" said Goyle.

"No," said Ginny. "You can't even read, why would you need it?"

"She's got a point," said Draco.

Crabbe and Goyle left the library in a sulky manner.