heroes shed no tears – 12
by virtualfaerie
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Lying down in her bed, covers pulled up to her neck, Ginny gazed at the canopy of her bed. The dormitory was silent; Draco had stalked out hours earlier, after Ginny had retreated to her curtained bed. She had jumped at every sound, wondering if it could be Draco coming back from wherever he was. But he hadn’t come.
She tossed and turned, feeling slightly guilty of what she said to Draco. He’d helped the Resistance a lot, much more than a lot. They might not have stood a chance against Voldemort in one last battle had he not told them Voldemort’s plans of using dark creatures. The Resistance owed much to him.
Getting tired of waiting, Ginny slipped out of bed, shoving her feet into a pair of slippers, and grabbing the robe she had been wearing earlier and pulling it over her head.
She tip-toed down the stairs and stopped short at the entrance of the common room, backing up slowly. Bane and Draco were sitting in front of the fire; Draco had a glass of amber liquid in his hand, swirling it around occasionally, and Bane was staring into the fire, his eyes hard.
“How’s Penelope?” Draco asked, giving his glass another swirl.
Bane closed his eyes tightly for a moment, letting out a low sigh. He opened them slowly, looking at Draco painfully. “You want the truth, Malfoy?”
“No less.”
“She’s not getting any better. Pomfrey can’t bring herself to come out and say it to me, but I know. If anything, she’s getting worse – and there’s nothing we can do for her.” He rubbed his temples. “I don’t know what to tell Sara. If I told her…she’d just be heartbroken. She spends all of her free time looking up cures in books, or asking Madame Pomfrey questions.”
“There’s no use hiding it from her,” said Draco. “She’s going to find out sooner or later.”
“I know that. But, I want to wait. Maybe, maybe she’ll get better,” Bane said bleakly.
“It’s better to tell them the truth so they know what to expect,” said Draco, taking a sip of his drink. “I told Haven.”
Bane’s eyebrows knitted together. “How’d he take that?”
Draco shrugged. “He definitely doesn’t like the idea. But I told him the truth. It’s better than him not knowing, and asking when he’s older – then finding out from someone besides me, maybe from Mathilde. Then she would turn him against me.” He drained the last of his drink and set the glass down on a table.
“I still can’t believe she tried to do that…” Bane said disbelievingly. “She’s a nut case.”
“I know.”
“Why’d you ever…?”
Draco tensed. “I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Does he look like her at all? He seems to take an awful lot after you,” said Bane.
The corners of Draco’s mouth tugged up gently. “He takes after me. He’s lucky he didn’t get Mathilde’s nose….”
Bane chuckled. “She’s got a big one, eh?”
“Huge.”
Ginny finally tiptoed back up to bed after guilt began to settle in for eavesdropping. She lay down, and pulled her blankets up to her chin, closing her eyes tightly.
Moments later, the door creaked open slowly, Draco’s soft footsteps sounding on the floor. His boots thumped on the floor and his mattress squeaked as he sat on it. He expelled a loud sigh and his hangings were drawn shut.
“Draco,” Ginny called out slowly.
“Hm?” came his muffled reply. “What Weasley?”
“I,” she paused. “I’m sorry.”
“Shut up, Weasley. Go to sleep,” he said gruffly.
Ginny smiled and turned over in her bed.
*
Ginny had slipped out of the dormitory early that morning, before Draco was awake, and walked down to the Hospital Wing. She was still wearing her pajamas, with her robes flung over them, and her feet jammed into some slippers. All in all, she was pretty comfortable.
She stepped through the door way of the Hospital Wing slowly, peering in cautiously. Madame Pomfrey looked up at her from her desk and smiled. “Miss Weasley,” she greeted. “You’ve come to see your brothers?”
Ginny nodded. “Yes.”
Madame Pomfrey hefted herself out of her chair and shuffled across the wing to two beds lying near a big window. She pulled at the curtains back around the beds and peeked in quickly. She looked back up at Ginny. “Percy is still asleep, but Ron is awake,” she said.
“Thanks,” said Ginny, making her way towards Ron’s bed. She pulled back the curtains and sat down on the edge of his bed. “How are you doing?” she asked softly.
Ron smiled at her. “I’m feeling really good actually. Like I could jump out of bed and do a million cartwheels.”
“Eh,” said Ginny, with a doubtful look on her face. “I don’t think that’s the best idea….”
Ron reached up and ruffled her hair. Ginny scowled at him. “I was only joking,” he said.
“You messed up my hair,” she grumbled, lifting her hands up and trying to put her hair back to the way it was.
Ron rolled his eyes. “It looks the same as it did before.”
“Whatever….”
There was a rustling sound across the hall in the Infirmary. Ginny frowned and strained her ears to listen closer. There was a string of, “No…no…no.” Then a whimper.
She looked to Ron. “Just a minute,” she said, stepping out. “Madame Pomfrey?” she called out hesitantly. No answered. “Madame Pomfrey?” she tried a bit louder, no luck.
“Is there something you needed?” rumbled a low, masculine voice. Ginny whipped around, her eyes wide. Bane stood behind, looking down at her thoughtfully. She hadn’t even noticed him come in. “Madame Pomfrey stepped out for a moment….”
“Oh,” she said. “Did you hear….?”
“That’s Trelawney,” he said, jerking his head towards a bed in the corner of the Infirmary. “She was hit with a Crutiatus while trying to divinate…not a good combination.”
Ginny blinked and walked over the Trelawney’s bed curiously, pulling back the curtains and looking in. Trelawney’s whimpers grew louder and she thrashed about her bed, her long black hair flying around her in tangle mess. Her teeth were bared and she was hissing as she tossed and turned, getting her legs tangled up in her sheets.
“Don’t trust him!” she croaked, stopping her thrashing and sitting up straight to look at Ginny.
“What?” said Ginny, confused.
There was a hand on her shoulder, it was Neville. He glanced at Trelawney concernedly. “She’s been rambling like this a lot lately.”
“Don’t trust him!” she said again in her hoarse voice. “He’ll betray you! He’ll betray you all!” Her eyes were glazed over, darting wilding, not looking at anything, and looking at everything all at once. She looked like a wild animal, savage and untamed. The way her teeth were bared and her eyes moving was feral, it chilled Ginny’s blood to see her.
Ginny’s eyebrows had shot up, her eyes looking from Neville to Trelawney nervously, biting at a finger nail, she had no clue as to what to do. Neville looked shocked, his mouth was open and his eyes were wide.
Trelawney turned her head towards Neville. “You!” she snapped, her eyebrows slammed together, her face contorted into a fury. “You are a tea-cup breaker! You always broke my tea-cups you insolent fool! You shall always be a tea-cup breaker!” she was muttering. “Always…. You broke…you broke… They should throw you out of Hogwarts, you tea-cup breaker! Throw you out! Throw you out!”
“Oh dear,” murmured Madame Pomfrey, hustling to Trelawney’s bed. “She’s been saying things like this lately, dears. Means nothing, she’s not quite in her mind anymore….” She ushered them away. “Go along now, there’s nothing to see.”
Neville was staring at his feet as they left the infirmary, his eyes still wide. He fingered the collar of his robes incessantly. The strings that held the buttons to his robes were long and thin from being turned over so many times by his habit. He looked up at Ginny. “What do you think she meant about me being a tea-cup breaker?” he asked.
“Madame Pomfrey said she wasn’t in her mind,” she said irresolutely. “It was probably just mindless drivel.”
“But I did break a lot of tea-cups when I was in her class,” Neville said anxiously. He shook his head. “This all give me a bad feeling…the whole lot of it.” He sighed. “Oh well, I’ll see you around,” he said, before taking a turn down another corridor and slipping out of sight.
Ginny gripped at the dragon pendant that was lying in the hollow of her neck, rubbing her thumb over the warm metal, reveling in its familiar comfort.
*
“Hullo,” Ginny greeted, sliding into a seat next to Hermione, in the Great Hall.
“Hey,” said Hermione, glancing up from her book. “How’s Ron doing?” she asked. “I haven’t been to see him since yesterday.”
“Good,” said Ginny. She piled some pancakes on her plate, slathering them with butter and dumping syrup on top.
Hermione wrinkled her nose. “How can you eat that?”
Ginny took a bite and grinned, a few waif strands of hair stuck in the syrup coating her lips. “I haven’t had butter or anything sweet for so long….”
Hermione’s eyebrows shot up. “They weren’t feeding you properly at the camps?” she asked with a tone very similar to the one she used when talking about S.P.E.W.
“If you call butter and syrup properly,” said Ginny. “Then, no.” She took another bite.
Harry came and took a seat across the table from her. “Looks like someone’s hungry,” he commented, serving himself some eggs.
“Someone also hasn’t eaten since yesterday morning,” said Ginny.
“And I think it’s odd that you’re talking in third person,” said Draco, taking the seat next to her. She jumped when his elbow grazed her arm. He raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Ginny felt the urge to shove her elbow into the butter dish, but resisted. “Nothing,” she mumbled, taking another bite of her pancakes.
“Have you seen Neville this morning?” Hermione asked Ginny.
“Yes, he was in the hospital wing a little earlier.”
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. “What was he doing there?”
Ginny shrugged and took a bite of her breakfast. “I don’t know.”
Harry turned to Draco. “Do you have any news on when the Death Eater HQ is going to be most vulnerable?”
Draco looked up from his sausages. “I don’t know an exact time. But probably during Voldemort’s next big gathering. Most of the Death Eaters will have to abandon their posts so that they can hear what he has to say.”
Harry raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”
Ginny scoffed and put her fork down. “How’s that supposed to work if no one’s there, Voldemort in particular? How have we defeated anything? I thought the plan was to get rid of him, not sneak into his headquarters when on one’s even there.”
Draco scowled at her.
“And I thought that the Slytherins’ were supposed to be the cunning ones….” She smirked at Draco.
“She’s right,” said Hermione. “There’s no point in going while no one is there.”
Harry cast a nervous glance at Draco whose fist was clenching around his knife. “So what’s Plan B, Malfoy?” he asked.
“Next weekend there is going to be an annual Death Eater ball, something to celebrate the day the Death Eaters were founded,” said Draco. “We could go there.” He looked at Ginny. “Everyone would be there. Voldemort in particular.”
“Go on,” Ginny prodded. “Amaze me with the rest of the plan.”
Draco continued. “This year it’s supposed to be a masquerade ball, or at least that’s the theme. We could sneak in with costumes – “
“Wait, wait,” interpreted Ginny. “Won’t they have a guest list or something, to check and see if only the people that are supposed to be getting in are getting in? Wouldn’t they have prepared for something like this? I do admit that Death Eaters are idiots, but they must have thought of something like that happening – it is quite obvious.”
“Alright,” Draco said slowly, his eyes narrowing at Ginny. “No sneaking in with costumes.”
Ginny nodded appreciatively.
“I guess we can just sneak in somewhere else, maybe the dungeons, there won’t be anyone down there except a few prisoners of war, or at least the ones that haven’t been killed – they’ll be locked up so that the Death Eaters that are supposed to be on patrol can go to the ball.” He pointedly looked at Ginny. “Is that ok with you?”
“Yes,” she said. “Very good. Do go on.”
Draco rolled his eyes. “From there we should probably split up – not that many people would need to come during this step, but we’ll need lots of people nearby for back up. And they won’t be able to Apparate in, they’ll most likely have set up wards against that. But, the few people that will be going in first will need to split up into groups. Each group will have to find where Voldemort is. He won’t be at the ball, but he’ll be in the headquarters building. If anything, he’ll make a short appearance at the ball and then leave. But that’s good because it’ll give us time to catch him alone, or without many escorts.”
“What do we do when we find him?” Ginny questioned.
“We’ll have to come up with some sort of communicators so that we can tell the others that we’ve found him – then who we have in the building will come and we’ll have to fight him.” Draco looked around the table. “Consulting Dumbledore on the matter of how to fight him is probably the wisest thing to do. And for now, we should keep our plan just between us. You never know who the infiltrate might be.”
Hermione sighed. “Sounds like a good plan. So mouths shut till we talk to Dumbledore?”
Draco nodded. “Yes.”
Hermione got up from the table. “I’m off to the library to study more defensive spells.”
Harry stood up as well. “I’ll go too.”
Ginny picked at what was left of her breakfast and watched Draco eat the rest of his. He hadn’t really been able to eat while he was talking. He finished and sat back, taking a look at her.
“You sure are mouthy this morning, aren’t you?” he said.
“Mouthy?” Ginny raised an eyebrow. “I was just pointing out the flaws in your plans. The flaws that could get people killed.”
Draco rolled his eyes again. “Only the Death Eaters.”
Ginny shook her head. “You obviously didn’t put much thought into them.”
“I’ve got a lot of things on my mind,” said Draco, getting up from the table. He walked off through the big doors that led out into the hallways, leaving Ginny sitting down at the table by herself.
*
Draco fastened his cloak around his shoulders and started down the stairs that led to the Ravenclaw common room. He was about to step out of the common room when someone spoke to him.
“Malfoy? Where are you going?” It was Mrs. Weasley.
Draco stopped and walked over to her. “I’m going to visit Haven and my mother.”
“You are?” she said. “Would you mind horribly if I came? It’s so…dismal here, and your mother is such a kind woman. Would she mind me staying with here?”
Draco eyed her carefully. “I don’t think she’d mind too much. I’m sure she gets lonely sometimes, even if she has Haven around.”
Molly clapped her hands together. “That’s just wonderful. You’re leaving now?”
“Yes.”
“Just a moment, let me get my things,” she said, rushing up the stairs.
Draco took a seat, wondering what Mrs. Weasley needed to get, she didn’t really have anything to call her own when they’d arrived a day before. But soon she came clomping down the stairs with an old shawl wrapped around her shoulders.
“Okay,” she said. “I just need to tell my kiddies that I’m leaving, would you mind? It won’t take to long.”
“Go ahead,” he said reluctantly, taking his seat again. Why was he bringing this woman again?
They stepped into Narcissa’s living room out of the fireplace. Molly had taken awhile to find all of her children and make sure that they knew where she was going, and that she loved them. She told them that there was just too much stress for her at the castle and that she needed to get away.
“Daddy!” Haven bounded into the room with his arms flung out. He ran smack into Draco. Draco put his hands under Haven’s arms and lifted him up into a hug.
“Hey there,” said Draco, smiling.
“I was wondering when you were going to come see me,” said Haven. He looked behind Draco at the fireplace. “Is Ginny coming too?”
Draco wrinkled his eyebrows. “Ginny? No, she isn’t coming.”
“Oh,” said Haven, his face falling.
“Draco, Molly,” Narcissa came into the room with a big smile on her face. “How nice to see you.” Molly smiled and gave Narcissa a warm hug. “Have you come to stay?” Narcissa asked.
“Mrs. Weasley needed to get away from the castle,” said Draco. “And I wanted to talk to Haven before I actually had to go into any fighting.”
Narcissa’s bright smile faltered for a moment. “Oh,” she said. “There’s going to be fighting soon?”
Draco nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
Narcissa came over and wrapped Draco in a hug, Haven in his arms and all, and kissed him soundly on the cheek. “Well, after you are done talking to Haven, make sure I get another hug.”
The corner of Draco’s mouth turned up. “Of course, mother.”
“Come Molly, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying,” Narcissa said, taking Molly’s arm and leading her out of the room.
Draco took Haven over to a couch and sat down with him.
“You’re going to have to fight again?” Haven asked quietly.
“Yes,” said Draco. “But I think this will be the last time, then we can live together without me leaving all the time.”
“What if….you don’t come back?” Haven said softly, looking up at Draco.
Draco tightened his hold on Haven. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll be coming back. You can’t get rid of me.”
Haven smiled a little. “What about Ginny? Is she going to have to fight too?”
Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “She’ll want to. Why?”
“I wanted to see her before she had to go to.” Haven paused, and looked back up at Draco, his eyes twinkling. “I think I love Ginny. I also think that I want to marry her.”
Draco grinned and bit back a laugh. “You want to marry her?”
Haven nodded sagely. “I really do. She’s nice and pretty and she takes care of me. Or,” he said sincerely, “you could marry her.” Haven shrugged. “Either way would be good.”
Draco shook his head. “I don’t think that would work.”
“Why not?” Haven asked.
“Because,” Draco said slowly. “We don’t love each other.”
“Why?”
“We just don’t.”
Haven hung his head. “Will I be able to see her before you guys have to leave?”
Draco rubbed his temples. “If you really want to see her, I’ll make sure I bring her before we go. Alright?”
Haven grinned. “Yeah, that’s good. I’ll ask her to marry me when you bring her.”
“You do that.”
*
Ginny was sitting in the Ravenclaw common room on a couch with Sara when Draco came back. She was reading her a picture book that they had found in the library.
He had come in the portrait hole, ready to just keep walking up to the dormitory.
“How’s Haven?” she asked.
Draco stopped and turned to face her. “Haven is doing well, he wants to see you before we have to go fight.”
Ginny smiled. “He does?”
“Yes,” said Draco. “He also wants to propose marriage to you.”
Ginny laughed. “Did he really say that?”
Draco nodded. “He did. There’s still time to go today if you want to see him. It won’t take us that long to get there.” Then he noticed Sara sitting with Ginny on the couch. “Hi, Sara,” he said. “Would you like to come too? I’m sure Haven would be glad to see you.”
Sara beamed at him. “That would be cool,” she said.
“You have to ask your father first though, so that he knows where you’re going,” said Draco. He glanced around the common room. “Where is your father anyways?”
Sara shrugged. “I don’t know. I saw him this morning and then he left. No one knows where he is.”
Draco raised his eyebrows and turned to race out of the common room, not saying another word.
Sara and Ginny exchanged looks.
“I wonder what that was about…” said Ginny.
*
Blaise Zabini was sitting in a highly cushioned, leather chair in his office, sipping a glass of brandy. He had his feet propped up on his desk, crossed at the ankles. He’d had a long day and was waiting for his informant to arrived.
Not many minutes later there was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” he called out.
The door creaked open and a hooded figure entered the room, shutting the door behind him and taking a seat in one of the chairs that faced Zabini’s desk.
“Zabini,” he said gruffly.
Blaise nodded his head. “Anything new to report?”
“They have their own infiltrate.”
Zabini’s eyebrows shot up. “They do?”
“Yes –“
The door slammed open, Draco standing there, his eyes glittering darkly.
by virtualfaerie
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Lying down in her bed, covers pulled up to her neck, Ginny gazed at the canopy of her bed. The dormitory was silent; Draco had stalked out hours earlier, after Ginny had retreated to her curtained bed. She had jumped at every sound, wondering if it could be Draco coming back from wherever he was. But he hadn’t come.
She tossed and turned, feeling slightly guilty of what she said to Draco. He’d helped the Resistance a lot, much more than a lot. They might not have stood a chance against Voldemort in one last battle had he not told them Voldemort’s plans of using dark creatures. The Resistance owed much to him.
Getting tired of waiting, Ginny slipped out of bed, shoving her feet into a pair of slippers, and grabbing the robe she had been wearing earlier and pulling it over her head.
She tip-toed down the stairs and stopped short at the entrance of the common room, backing up slowly. Bane and Draco were sitting in front of the fire; Draco had a glass of amber liquid in his hand, swirling it around occasionally, and Bane was staring into the fire, his eyes hard.
“How’s Penelope?” Draco asked, giving his glass another swirl.
Bane closed his eyes tightly for a moment, letting out a low sigh. He opened them slowly, looking at Draco painfully. “You want the truth, Malfoy?”
“No less.”
“She’s not getting any better. Pomfrey can’t bring herself to come out and say it to me, but I know. If anything, she’s getting worse – and there’s nothing we can do for her.” He rubbed his temples. “I don’t know what to tell Sara. If I told her…she’d just be heartbroken. She spends all of her free time looking up cures in books, or asking Madame Pomfrey questions.”
“There’s no use hiding it from her,” said Draco. “She’s going to find out sooner or later.”
“I know that. But, I want to wait. Maybe, maybe she’ll get better,” Bane said bleakly.
“It’s better to tell them the truth so they know what to expect,” said Draco, taking a sip of his drink. “I told Haven.”
Bane’s eyebrows knitted together. “How’d he take that?”
Draco shrugged. “He definitely doesn’t like the idea. But I told him the truth. It’s better than him not knowing, and asking when he’s older – then finding out from someone besides me, maybe from Mathilde. Then she would turn him against me.” He drained the last of his drink and set the glass down on a table.
“I still can’t believe she tried to do that…” Bane said disbelievingly. “She’s a nut case.”
“I know.”
“Why’d you ever…?”
Draco tensed. “I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Does he look like her at all? He seems to take an awful lot after you,” said Bane.
The corners of Draco’s mouth tugged up gently. “He takes after me. He’s lucky he didn’t get Mathilde’s nose….”
Bane chuckled. “She’s got a big one, eh?”
“Huge.”
Ginny finally tiptoed back up to bed after guilt began to settle in for eavesdropping. She lay down, and pulled her blankets up to her chin, closing her eyes tightly.
Moments later, the door creaked open slowly, Draco’s soft footsteps sounding on the floor. His boots thumped on the floor and his mattress squeaked as he sat on it. He expelled a loud sigh and his hangings were drawn shut.
“Draco,” Ginny called out slowly.
“Hm?” came his muffled reply. “What Weasley?”
“I,” she paused. “I’m sorry.”
“Shut up, Weasley. Go to sleep,” he said gruffly.
Ginny smiled and turned over in her bed.
*
Ginny had slipped out of the dormitory early that morning, before Draco was awake, and walked down to the Hospital Wing. She was still wearing her pajamas, with her robes flung over them, and her feet jammed into some slippers. All in all, she was pretty comfortable.
She stepped through the door way of the Hospital Wing slowly, peering in cautiously. Madame Pomfrey looked up at her from her desk and smiled. “Miss Weasley,” she greeted. “You’ve come to see your brothers?”
Ginny nodded. “Yes.”
Madame Pomfrey hefted herself out of her chair and shuffled across the wing to two beds lying near a big window. She pulled at the curtains back around the beds and peeked in quickly. She looked back up at Ginny. “Percy is still asleep, but Ron is awake,” she said.
“Thanks,” said Ginny, making her way towards Ron’s bed. She pulled back the curtains and sat down on the edge of his bed. “How are you doing?” she asked softly.
Ron smiled at her. “I’m feeling really good actually. Like I could jump out of bed and do a million cartwheels.”
“Eh,” said Ginny, with a doubtful look on her face. “I don’t think that’s the best idea….”
Ron reached up and ruffled her hair. Ginny scowled at him. “I was only joking,” he said.
“You messed up my hair,” she grumbled, lifting her hands up and trying to put her hair back to the way it was.
Ron rolled his eyes. “It looks the same as it did before.”
“Whatever….”
There was a rustling sound across the hall in the Infirmary. Ginny frowned and strained her ears to listen closer. There was a string of, “No…no…no.” Then a whimper.
She looked to Ron. “Just a minute,” she said, stepping out. “Madame Pomfrey?” she called out hesitantly. No answered. “Madame Pomfrey?” she tried a bit louder, no luck.
“Is there something you needed?” rumbled a low, masculine voice. Ginny whipped around, her eyes wide. Bane stood behind, looking down at her thoughtfully. She hadn’t even noticed him come in. “Madame Pomfrey stepped out for a moment….”
“Oh,” she said. “Did you hear….?”
“That’s Trelawney,” he said, jerking his head towards a bed in the corner of the Infirmary. “She was hit with a Crutiatus while trying to divinate…not a good combination.”
Ginny blinked and walked over the Trelawney’s bed curiously, pulling back the curtains and looking in. Trelawney’s whimpers grew louder and she thrashed about her bed, her long black hair flying around her in tangle mess. Her teeth were bared and she was hissing as she tossed and turned, getting her legs tangled up in her sheets.
“Don’t trust him!” she croaked, stopping her thrashing and sitting up straight to look at Ginny.
“What?” said Ginny, confused.
There was a hand on her shoulder, it was Neville. He glanced at Trelawney concernedly. “She’s been rambling like this a lot lately.”
“Don’t trust him!” she said again in her hoarse voice. “He’ll betray you! He’ll betray you all!” Her eyes were glazed over, darting wilding, not looking at anything, and looking at everything all at once. She looked like a wild animal, savage and untamed. The way her teeth were bared and her eyes moving was feral, it chilled Ginny’s blood to see her.
Ginny’s eyebrows had shot up, her eyes looking from Neville to Trelawney nervously, biting at a finger nail, she had no clue as to what to do. Neville looked shocked, his mouth was open and his eyes were wide.
Trelawney turned her head towards Neville. “You!” she snapped, her eyebrows slammed together, her face contorted into a fury. “You are a tea-cup breaker! You always broke my tea-cups you insolent fool! You shall always be a tea-cup breaker!” she was muttering. “Always…. You broke…you broke… They should throw you out of Hogwarts, you tea-cup breaker! Throw you out! Throw you out!”
“Oh dear,” murmured Madame Pomfrey, hustling to Trelawney’s bed. “She’s been saying things like this lately, dears. Means nothing, she’s not quite in her mind anymore….” She ushered them away. “Go along now, there’s nothing to see.”
Neville was staring at his feet as they left the infirmary, his eyes still wide. He fingered the collar of his robes incessantly. The strings that held the buttons to his robes were long and thin from being turned over so many times by his habit. He looked up at Ginny. “What do you think she meant about me being a tea-cup breaker?” he asked.
“Madame Pomfrey said she wasn’t in her mind,” she said irresolutely. “It was probably just mindless drivel.”
“But I did break a lot of tea-cups when I was in her class,” Neville said anxiously. He shook his head. “This all give me a bad feeling…the whole lot of it.” He sighed. “Oh well, I’ll see you around,” he said, before taking a turn down another corridor and slipping out of sight.
Ginny gripped at the dragon pendant that was lying in the hollow of her neck, rubbing her thumb over the warm metal, reveling in its familiar comfort.
*
“Hullo,” Ginny greeted, sliding into a seat next to Hermione, in the Great Hall.
“Hey,” said Hermione, glancing up from her book. “How’s Ron doing?” she asked. “I haven’t been to see him since yesterday.”
“Good,” said Ginny. She piled some pancakes on her plate, slathering them with butter and dumping syrup on top.
Hermione wrinkled her nose. “How can you eat that?”
Ginny took a bite and grinned, a few waif strands of hair stuck in the syrup coating her lips. “I haven’t had butter or anything sweet for so long….”
Hermione’s eyebrows shot up. “They weren’t feeding you properly at the camps?” she asked with a tone very similar to the one she used when talking about S.P.E.W.
“If you call butter and syrup properly,” said Ginny. “Then, no.” She took another bite.
Harry came and took a seat across the table from her. “Looks like someone’s hungry,” he commented, serving himself some eggs.
“Someone also hasn’t eaten since yesterday morning,” said Ginny.
“And I think it’s odd that you’re talking in third person,” said Draco, taking the seat next to her. She jumped when his elbow grazed her arm. He raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Ginny felt the urge to shove her elbow into the butter dish, but resisted. “Nothing,” she mumbled, taking another bite of her pancakes.
“Have you seen Neville this morning?” Hermione asked Ginny.
“Yes, he was in the hospital wing a little earlier.”
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. “What was he doing there?”
Ginny shrugged and took a bite of her breakfast. “I don’t know.”
Harry turned to Draco. “Do you have any news on when the Death Eater HQ is going to be most vulnerable?”
Draco looked up from his sausages. “I don’t know an exact time. But probably during Voldemort’s next big gathering. Most of the Death Eaters will have to abandon their posts so that they can hear what he has to say.”
Harry raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”
Ginny scoffed and put her fork down. “How’s that supposed to work if no one’s there, Voldemort in particular? How have we defeated anything? I thought the plan was to get rid of him, not sneak into his headquarters when on one’s even there.”
Draco scowled at her.
“And I thought that the Slytherins’ were supposed to be the cunning ones….” She smirked at Draco.
“She’s right,” said Hermione. “There’s no point in going while no one is there.”
Harry cast a nervous glance at Draco whose fist was clenching around his knife. “So what’s Plan B, Malfoy?” he asked.
“Next weekend there is going to be an annual Death Eater ball, something to celebrate the day the Death Eaters were founded,” said Draco. “We could go there.” He looked at Ginny. “Everyone would be there. Voldemort in particular.”
“Go on,” Ginny prodded. “Amaze me with the rest of the plan.”
Draco continued. “This year it’s supposed to be a masquerade ball, or at least that’s the theme. We could sneak in with costumes – “
“Wait, wait,” interpreted Ginny. “Won’t they have a guest list or something, to check and see if only the people that are supposed to be getting in are getting in? Wouldn’t they have prepared for something like this? I do admit that Death Eaters are idiots, but they must have thought of something like that happening – it is quite obvious.”
“Alright,” Draco said slowly, his eyes narrowing at Ginny. “No sneaking in with costumes.”
Ginny nodded appreciatively.
“I guess we can just sneak in somewhere else, maybe the dungeons, there won’t be anyone down there except a few prisoners of war, or at least the ones that haven’t been killed – they’ll be locked up so that the Death Eaters that are supposed to be on patrol can go to the ball.” He pointedly looked at Ginny. “Is that ok with you?”
“Yes,” she said. “Very good. Do go on.”
Draco rolled his eyes. “From there we should probably split up – not that many people would need to come during this step, but we’ll need lots of people nearby for back up. And they won’t be able to Apparate in, they’ll most likely have set up wards against that. But, the few people that will be going in first will need to split up into groups. Each group will have to find where Voldemort is. He won’t be at the ball, but he’ll be in the headquarters building. If anything, he’ll make a short appearance at the ball and then leave. But that’s good because it’ll give us time to catch him alone, or without many escorts.”
“What do we do when we find him?” Ginny questioned.
“We’ll have to come up with some sort of communicators so that we can tell the others that we’ve found him – then who we have in the building will come and we’ll have to fight him.” Draco looked around the table. “Consulting Dumbledore on the matter of how to fight him is probably the wisest thing to do. And for now, we should keep our plan just between us. You never know who the infiltrate might be.”
Hermione sighed. “Sounds like a good plan. So mouths shut till we talk to Dumbledore?”
Draco nodded. “Yes.”
Hermione got up from the table. “I’m off to the library to study more defensive spells.”
Harry stood up as well. “I’ll go too.”
Ginny picked at what was left of her breakfast and watched Draco eat the rest of his. He hadn’t really been able to eat while he was talking. He finished and sat back, taking a look at her.
“You sure are mouthy this morning, aren’t you?” he said.
“Mouthy?” Ginny raised an eyebrow. “I was just pointing out the flaws in your plans. The flaws that could get people killed.”
Draco rolled his eyes again. “Only the Death Eaters.”
Ginny shook her head. “You obviously didn’t put much thought into them.”
“I’ve got a lot of things on my mind,” said Draco, getting up from the table. He walked off through the big doors that led out into the hallways, leaving Ginny sitting down at the table by herself.
*
Draco fastened his cloak around his shoulders and started down the stairs that led to the Ravenclaw common room. He was about to step out of the common room when someone spoke to him.
“Malfoy? Where are you going?” It was Mrs. Weasley.
Draco stopped and walked over to her. “I’m going to visit Haven and my mother.”
“You are?” she said. “Would you mind horribly if I came? It’s so…dismal here, and your mother is such a kind woman. Would she mind me staying with here?”
Draco eyed her carefully. “I don’t think she’d mind too much. I’m sure she gets lonely sometimes, even if she has Haven around.”
Molly clapped her hands together. “That’s just wonderful. You’re leaving now?”
“Yes.”
“Just a moment, let me get my things,” she said, rushing up the stairs.
Draco took a seat, wondering what Mrs. Weasley needed to get, she didn’t really have anything to call her own when they’d arrived a day before. But soon she came clomping down the stairs with an old shawl wrapped around her shoulders.
“Okay,” she said. “I just need to tell my kiddies that I’m leaving, would you mind? It won’t take to long.”
“Go ahead,” he said reluctantly, taking his seat again. Why was he bringing this woman again?
They stepped into Narcissa’s living room out of the fireplace. Molly had taken awhile to find all of her children and make sure that they knew where she was going, and that she loved them. She told them that there was just too much stress for her at the castle and that she needed to get away.
“Daddy!” Haven bounded into the room with his arms flung out. He ran smack into Draco. Draco put his hands under Haven’s arms and lifted him up into a hug.
“Hey there,” said Draco, smiling.
“I was wondering when you were going to come see me,” said Haven. He looked behind Draco at the fireplace. “Is Ginny coming too?”
Draco wrinkled his eyebrows. “Ginny? No, she isn’t coming.”
“Oh,” said Haven, his face falling.
“Draco, Molly,” Narcissa came into the room with a big smile on her face. “How nice to see you.” Molly smiled and gave Narcissa a warm hug. “Have you come to stay?” Narcissa asked.
“Mrs. Weasley needed to get away from the castle,” said Draco. “And I wanted to talk to Haven before I actually had to go into any fighting.”
Narcissa’s bright smile faltered for a moment. “Oh,” she said. “There’s going to be fighting soon?”
Draco nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
Narcissa came over and wrapped Draco in a hug, Haven in his arms and all, and kissed him soundly on the cheek. “Well, after you are done talking to Haven, make sure I get another hug.”
The corner of Draco’s mouth turned up. “Of course, mother.”
“Come Molly, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying,” Narcissa said, taking Molly’s arm and leading her out of the room.
Draco took Haven over to a couch and sat down with him.
“You’re going to have to fight again?” Haven asked quietly.
“Yes,” said Draco. “But I think this will be the last time, then we can live together without me leaving all the time.”
“What if….you don’t come back?” Haven said softly, looking up at Draco.
Draco tightened his hold on Haven. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll be coming back. You can’t get rid of me.”
Haven smiled a little. “What about Ginny? Is she going to have to fight too?”
Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “She’ll want to. Why?”
“I wanted to see her before she had to go to.” Haven paused, and looked back up at Draco, his eyes twinkling. “I think I love Ginny. I also think that I want to marry her.”
Draco grinned and bit back a laugh. “You want to marry her?”
Haven nodded sagely. “I really do. She’s nice and pretty and she takes care of me. Or,” he said sincerely, “you could marry her.” Haven shrugged. “Either way would be good.”
Draco shook his head. “I don’t think that would work.”
“Why not?” Haven asked.
“Because,” Draco said slowly. “We don’t love each other.”
“Why?”
“We just don’t.”
Haven hung his head. “Will I be able to see her before you guys have to leave?”
Draco rubbed his temples. “If you really want to see her, I’ll make sure I bring her before we go. Alright?”
Haven grinned. “Yeah, that’s good. I’ll ask her to marry me when you bring her.”
“You do that.”
*
Ginny was sitting in the Ravenclaw common room on a couch with Sara when Draco came back. She was reading her a picture book that they had found in the library.
He had come in the portrait hole, ready to just keep walking up to the dormitory.
“How’s Haven?” she asked.
Draco stopped and turned to face her. “Haven is doing well, he wants to see you before we have to go fight.”
Ginny smiled. “He does?”
“Yes,” said Draco. “He also wants to propose marriage to you.”
Ginny laughed. “Did he really say that?”
Draco nodded. “He did. There’s still time to go today if you want to see him. It won’t take us that long to get there.” Then he noticed Sara sitting with Ginny on the couch. “Hi, Sara,” he said. “Would you like to come too? I’m sure Haven would be glad to see you.”
Sara beamed at him. “That would be cool,” she said.
“You have to ask your father first though, so that he knows where you’re going,” said Draco. He glanced around the common room. “Where is your father anyways?”
Sara shrugged. “I don’t know. I saw him this morning and then he left. No one knows where he is.”
Draco raised his eyebrows and turned to race out of the common room, not saying another word.
Sara and Ginny exchanged looks.
“I wonder what that was about…” said Ginny.
*
Blaise Zabini was sitting in a highly cushioned, leather chair in his office, sipping a glass of brandy. He had his feet propped up on his desk, crossed at the ankles. He’d had a long day and was waiting for his informant to arrived.
Not many minutes later there was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” he called out.
The door creaked open and a hooded figure entered the room, shutting the door behind him and taking a seat in one of the chairs that faced Zabini’s desk.
“Zabini,” he said gruffly.
Blaise nodded his head. “Anything new to report?”
“They have their own infiltrate.”
Zabini’s eyebrows shot up. “They do?”
“Yes –“
The door slammed open, Draco standing there, his eyes glittering darkly.
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