Where Prologue and Chapter One
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
AN: This story was written before Book 5 came out. In later chapters, there will appear some persons, places or seeking we know from OtP, but storyline is still keeping up from GoF standards. Sirius is still alive, Lucius Malfoy hadn’t been in Azkaban … things like that. Oh, I forgot some small changes: Snape isn’t a spy for Voldemort anymore, but Voldemort knows that he had been before.
There will be romance between Ginny and Draco, but please be patient. This is a romance and a fantasy story.
Thanks to Rea for beating. She did a great job translating my translation from german.
Have fun! TalynSlytherin
Prologue
“Wormtail, Harry Potter has to disappear as soon as possible! If your plan fails, you know what you will suffer from!” The voice was loud and shrill.
Peter Pettigrew ducked involuntary.
“Master, everything will be happen exactly as planned,” he then said obediently, not without eyeing Nagini fearfully as she hissed threateningly at him.
Voldemort’s red eyes were full of hatred.
“You better not forget about Snape. This will happen in his lesson. If something goes wrong, you will be wishing you had never been born, Wormtail!”
“The Death Eater’s son was selected and prepared very carefully, Master. The plan will succeed.”
“What about Veritaserum?” Voldemort asked harshly.
“He won’t be able to remember a thing, Master. He doesn’t even know he’s under the spell. The preparation went ahead without any problems.”
“Harry Potter,” Voldemort hissed menacingly. “Your existence will be banned from the Earth, and then ….”
He trailed off, unable to suppress the evil laugh that spilt from his lips; he could almost taste his victory.
1. The perfect plan
“I hate Potions,” Ron growled.
He was on the way to the dungeons with Hermione, Harry and his sister, Ginny.
Harry grumbled something under his breath.
“It’s so important!” Hermione protested. “Think about it, we need all the lessons we can get to pass our NEWTs!”
Her only answer was a loud groan from both guys.
Ginny just grinned. She was only a Sixth Year, but at the same time, one of the rare students who had managed to skip a level in some classes – like Potions. Snape was still truly unfair to all the Gryffindors, but he knew all too well that abilities like potions brewery were badly needed in the upcoming war. And nobody had any doubts that the war would be coming soon.
This thought made her sober up quickly. Many people had died in the last two years, and even the Ministry had admitted publicly that Voldemort really was alive again. Not to mention Voldemort’s continuing attacks on Harry.
She involuntarily gave him a quick look – not that he would have noticed her, anyway. For Harry, she was just the little sister of his best friend. She slowed down and was quickly left behind by the other three.
“My, it’s Scrawny. And like always, with a hopeless glance at the almighty Potter,” an arrogant voice behind her mused.
Ginny clenched her teeth. She hated the nickname Malfoy had given her. The Slytherin had been more evil than ever since he had come to know she was sharing Potions lessons with the Seventh Years.
“Grow up, Malfoy. This is getting old,” she spat.
“Oh, really?” He was blocking her way, knowing Crabbe and Goyle was directly behind him.
Ginny had fought with him every so often for the past half year. As opposed to Harry and Hermione, who just ignored him when he was spitting out his niceties, she wouldn’t let him get away with it.
“Who, of all people, would want a scrawny little girl on his claws? A girl, who practically consists only of freckles and red hair? A flobberworm is more attractive,” he went on.
“Maybe that’s the reason you got together with Parkinson,” she retorted sweetly. “Seems to be the proof of bad taste, she’s positively the meaning of ugly.”
Malfoy’s eyes narrowed.
“You better watch your tongue, Scrawny,” he threatened, and Crabbe and Goyle were coming uncomfortably near her. “You don’t want to end up as a toad, now would you?”
He held up his wand. Ginny had foreseen this, and with lightning speed, she kicked him in the shin with all her strength.
Malfoy gave out a surprised shriek and almost dropped his wand.
Meanwhile, some of the Gryffindors had noticed Ginny in trouble and gathered around her.
“Ginny? Everything all right?” Dean Thomas asked, throwing an accusing glance at Malfoy, who was furiously rubbing his shin.
“No problems,” Ginny answered, grinning. “Let’s go, we’re late.”
She passed Malfoy as if he were invisible.
“This isn’t over, Scrawny!” he hissed under his breath.
Unnoticed by the other Gryffindors, Ginny waved him off behind her back.
Draco ground his teeth together audibly. She would pay, that much was for sure!
***
“Today, you will be working on the Painkiller Potion,” Snape said quietly. Even so, everyone heard him very clearly because of the deep silence in the dungeon. Nobody wanted to risk House points. These principles applied to everyone this year, even the Slytherins had learned this the hard way.
“You will be working with your usual lab partners. I doubt that any of you can follow the instructions properly ….” His piercing stare was wandering over Harry and Neville, and the last was visibly shrinking under his gaze. “But the final result should be blue. You will test the final potion with your partner. If brewed correctly, you should be able to ignore all pain – for a limited period of time. As an extra note, for those who can remember, this is the reason why the potion cannot used against the Crucio curse.”
Snape finished his lecture and silence followed.
“Well? What are you waiting for?” he snapped finally.
Ginny teamed up with Neville, sighing under her breath. Heavens knew, why Snape had assigned Neville as her lab partner, of all people. Neville was nice and a good friend, but as a partner, he was simply a disaster.
Near her, Malfoy and Blaise Zabini were busy working on their potion, and behind them, Harry and Hermione.
Snape sauntered between them, his sharp eyes noticing even the slightest mistake.
“Mr Potter,” he said, sneering. “If you are not able to read the instructions, you should think about attending a normal muggle school instead. Not that you would be any more successful there. Ten points from Gryffindor.”
Harry’s face reddened in anger, but he knew all too well that protesting would just cause Snape to take more points off.
Ginny was concentrating hard on her work. This was a really difficult potion, and some of the ingredients were rather dangerous. Between following Snape’s instructions she also had to prevent Neville from destroying it completely.
Draco’s stare literally bore a hole in the back of the small Gryffindor. He let Zabini continue working on the potion, while he thought hard about different methods to give Scrawny a payback for the embarrassing scene earlier.
Suddenly, Seamus Finnegan’s and Lavender Brown’s cauldron exploded. Dripping hot liquid splashed everywhere, and all students hurried to get away from the mess.
A few droplets hit Ginny’s arm, and she hastily tried to get it off, as it was burning her skin. She turned to search for a rag or something, and collided with another person.
“Ow! You prat, watch where you’re going!”
The person merely tried to push her out of the way. Ginny now saw who the person standing in front of her was.
“Malfoy! What are you doing, are you mad?”
The Slytherin threw her an absent glance, and Ginny stared back. His eyes were expressionless, and he was moving like someone who was deep within a nightmare. She saw him take something out of his robe, and move to Harry and Hermione’s cauldron, which was deserted. Nobody else was looking in their direction as everyone was still busy getting away from Seamus and Lavender’s potion.
“No!” Ginny cried, grabbing his hand. As a result of their struggle, the contents fell into her own cauldron.
It immediately started to shake and boiled over. An eerie noise began to sound, becoming louder and louder. It was shrill and piercing and getting on Ginny’s every nerve.
Ginny just looked down her cauldron, stunned, Draco’s hand still in her hard grip.
Then her cauldron exploded too, and both of them were pushed back violently.
***
“Is anyone hurt?” Snape bellowed. Some minutes had passed since the second cauldron had exploded and the air was sick with smoke and the sound of people coughing.
Almost everybody shook their heads.
Ron was looking around nervously.
“Where is Ginny?” he said aloud.
“Draco!” Pansy Parkinson shrieked at the same time. “Draco has disappeared!”
Snape opened his mouth to lecture her for screaming, but shut it abruptly. There was only empty space where Ginevra Weasley’s cauldron should have been.
And his two brightest students were effectively missing.
***
A rat. Just a rat, in a hidden corner of the Potions` dungeon.
But this rat was shaking in fear. Speaking of which, it had every reason to be.
