A.N. I'm so bad at updating! I'm sorry! cries We're nearing the end, don't loose faith in me!

III

The Christmas Ball

III

It had been several days since Ginny and Draco had returned from France. They were staying in a small Wizarding Inn in Sheffield, passing the days in the local library, looking desperately for a cure.

"Anything?" Draco asked after about an hour of silence.

"No." Ginny sighed, "I mean, if I was being possessed, we could work this out, but this isn't possession."

"Maybe we should look under haunting." Draco suggested.

"Or mental illness." Tom added in a faux helpful voice.

"Don't be stupid." Ginny muttered, and then added when Draco looked at her with an offended expression, "Tom. Not you."

"Oh." Draco shrugged, and then turned back to his book.

After several hours of fruitless searching, they headed back to the Inn, where Fawkes waited for them. The bird greeted them with a squawk when they entered the door, and Ginny smiled affectionately at it.

"Hi Fawkes." She whispered, "How are you today?"

"There's no point talking to it. It doesn't speak English." Draco muttered.

"He understands though." Ginny reminded him, "And he and Dumbledore speak. Well, communicate. So I want Dumbledore to know that I've been courteous to his companion."

"Fine, fine, you go right ahead and talk to the bird." He shook his head dismissively, and then sat on his bed, "So, are we going?"

"Only if you want to." She replied nervously. She pulled out the letter she had been carrying with her for the last few days, "He said that it'd be nice if I could come, but that he'd understand if I couldn't."

They were discussing Aiden Lynch's Christmas party which they had been invited to. Well, Ginny had been invited to.

"Yeah, being pursued by Death Eaters can really put a cramp on your social life." Draco rolled his eyes, "Do you want to go? I know you and Aiden have a thing going on, I'm not going to stand in the way of that."

"Malfoy, we have a thing going on." She reminded him, "I like the thing we have going on. I like you."

"But you want to go to the party."

"With you. Look…this party…well, its normal." She sat down next to him, "When was the last time either of us did anything normal?"

"Too long ago." He agreed, "But…Lynch."

"He's nice." Ginny admitted, "And I might have a slight crush on him, but it's nothing, just silliness. I mean, he thinks I'm eighteen or something, maybe even nineteen. If we ever live through this, he won't be very pleased to work out that I've just turned sixteen. It's not serious."

"And what we have is?" Draco laughed, "Weasley…let's go to the party. It might even be fun."

Ginny laughed as well, and kissed him lightly on the cheek. Then she grabbed her bag and ran into the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Draco called.

"Getting ready for the party!" She answered.

"But it's not for another few hours." He reminded her.

"Only a few hours!" She exclaimed from behind the door, "Ahh!"

III

Ginny stood in front of the mirror, looking at herself. She had changed into the bluish purple dress robes Draco had bought her at the beginning of their "adventure", and was admiring the material.

"Are you ready yet?" Draco called from outside the bathroom, and Ginny sighed.

"Yeah." She called back, but didn't move away from the mirror. She had arranged her black tresses into an elegant semi-bun at the top of her head, with a good deal of hair still cascading down her shoulders.

"Then why are you just standing there?" Ginny jumped, and looked around. Draco had managed to open the door without her hearing, and was now leaning against the doorway.

"Just…looking." She answered.

"And you call me vain." He muttered, parting from the doorway and coming to stand next to her.

"No I don't." She replied, frowning, "Besides, it's not exactly like this is my body."

"Yeah." Draco agreed, "Not as pretty."

His hand reached up and touched her hair. She closed her eyes for a moment, just enjoying the feel of his fingers just above her shoulder, but then opened them and turned to look at him. He wore deep green dress robes, and his typical smirk. It looked strange on his face, but over the weeks Ginny had become used to it. They had switched between the two faces so many times now that when Ginny conjured an image of Draco into her mind, it was just as likely to be the tall dark haired boy as it was to be the real Draco.

"You look nice." She said eventually.

"Yeah, being someone else seems to suit me." He grinned, "Come on, we should get going."

III

Molly Weasley carefully placed the star at the top of the Christmas tree, while Fred and George covered it with bobbles and tinsel.

"Looking good boys!" She called down, and they grinned up at her. In the kitchen Charlie was keeping an eye on the roast for her, and Bill was setting the table for Christmas Eve dinner. Ron, Harry and Hermione were off somewhere, supposedly cleaning the house, although Molly suspected that they were searching for the hidden presents. Arthur and Percy were still at work, and weren't expected back for another hour or so.

"Mum!" Bill called, "How many of us are there?"

"I've told you already dear, ten!" She called back, wobbling slightly on the stool she was standing on. Fred darted forward and grabbed her arm, and she smiled warmly at him, "Thank you dear."

"It's ok mum." He told her, turning back to the decorating.

"What are those strange coloured crackers?" Molly asked suspiciously, pointing, "I'm sure I didn't buy those."

"Um, they're…uh…" George stuttered, "Well, you see…"

"Get rid of them." She ordered, "I don't want any two headed lizards crawling around my house, or whatever will pop out of those things."

"After I just saved your life mum?" Fred said, looking hurt.

"Get rid of them." She repeated. The twins sighed, shaking their heads and pulling off their specially made crackers.

"Bill, that's eleven plates!" Came a call from the kitchen. Charlie had noticed that Bill had got the number of plates wrong again, "How the hell do you work for a bank when you can't count?"

"Shut it little brother." Bill scolded, "Look, I counted it up in my head, and there are eleven of us. Mum and dad, you and me, Fred and George, Percy and Ron, Harry and Hermione and Gi…"

There was a silence where he realised his mistake. Molly froze, and the twin's heads snapped towards her. No one said a word, but those not in the kitchen could imagine the look on Bill and Charlie's faces.

"And Remus." Bill finished off lamely, "Isn't Remus coming tonight?"

"No dear." Molly called into the kitchen, "He's coming tomorrow."

"Ah, sorry, my mistake." There was a brief silence before Ron, Harry and Hermione burst into the living room. Seeing the sombre look on everyone's faces, Ron blanched.

"What? Has something happened?" He asked, his voice nervous.

"No dear, nothing's happened." Molly reassured him sadly.

"You sure?" Harry asked, glancing around.

"Yes, I'm sure." She smiled weakly.

"I'll go make you some tea." Fred said, hurrying into the kitchen.

"Thank you." She watched him go, before turning back to the three friends, "So, how's the cleaning going?"

"The cleaning?" Ron asked, confused.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, "Oh, yes, the cleaning… Um….we took a brief break."

"We'll get right back to it." Harry assured her.

"Yeah, yeah…" Ron looked distracted. He reached down and picked up one of the crackers Molly had made the twins remove from the tree. "Hey mum? Can I pull one, please?"

"Ron, no-!" But it was too late; Ron had already grasped each end and pulled firmly. There was an almighty crack, and the room was suddenly filled with soot. Something large and scaly landed on the floor and slithered under the carpet.

"Who pulled a Creepy Crawly Cracker?" Fred asked, running into the living room looking excited.

"FRED! GEORGE!" Molly screamed.

III

They arrived, like most the guests, fashionably late. Ginny had wanted to go as early as possible, but Draco had insisted they waited. On arrival they were given masks to wear, which would be removed at midnight. Ginny was delighted with the phoenix mask she received, while Draco refused to wear the unicorn mask he was given, and insisted that they give him a dragon one. After about five minutes of Draco being stubborn they finally gave in, and Draco was given an Antipodean Opaleye dragon mask.

"You can't let the help walk all over you." He informed her helpfully, but she just shook her head.

"Malfoy, that was embarrassing." She hissed.

"Now, now, my dear Emily." He scorned playfully, "I do believe my name is Nathaniel."

"I reserve all rights to hate you." She sniped.

They moved into the hall in which the dance was being held. Real fairies lined the walls, chattering to themselves, occasionally swooping down at the dancers, but never actually touching them. The entire hall was decked in white, with icicles hanging from the ceiling.

"I hope they don't drip." Draco said, looking up at them, "They'll ruin my hair."

"Ah, the vanity of teenage boys." She sighed, and he poked her, a little too hard, in the side.

"Watch it Weasley." He warned, "Those shoes look awfully hard to walk in, you wouldn't want to have a little 'accident' in front of Lynch, would you?"

"You wouldn't dare." She said loftily.

"You wanna bet?"

They moved onto the dance floor and began to dance, but only moments later someone tapped Draco lightly on the shoulder. Turning round, Draco found himself looking into the eyes of Aiden Lynch.

"Lynch." He nodded a greeting.

"Nathaniel, good to see you, glad you could make it." He said in his cheery lilting voice, and then turned to Ginny and said much more sincerely "And it's good to see you too Emily."

"Hello Aiden." Ginny smiled, and held her hand out to shake his. Instead he took it to his lips and kissed her hand gently. Draco scowled and looked away.

"I'm sure, Nathaniel, that there are many young women here who would love to dance with you." Aiden told him, with a slight wink, "So I'm sure you won't mind if I steal your cousin away for just a little bit."

"I suppose." Draco said reluctantly. Aiden took Ginny's hands, and led her into the dance floor. Over Aiden's shoulder Ginny saw Draco tap on the shoulder of a small red haired girl, and offer his hand to her. She felt her stomach give a flip of jealousy when the red haired girl took it, and they began to dance.

III

Claudius Huntley was not happy. He had spent the last few weeks following Aiden Lynch's every move, and still he had found out nothing. Ever since Lynch had been seen speaking to the Vessel in Russia he had been under constant surveillance. It would have been much easier if he had been able to read the bloody man's owls, but as a celebrity he had been able to afford the best protection spells for his birds. So now Huntley was out stalking a celebrity for the Dark Lord on Christmas Eve.

But things were starting to look up. Two dark haired youths had walked in; fitting the vessel and her companion's description, and the girl was now dancing with Lynch.

He watched as Lynch brought her over to the buffet table and handed her a drink, and smiled to himself.

"That's right girly, drink up." He muttered under his breath, "Drink as much as you want. And when you finally need to go toilet…that's when I'll have you."

"Is he talking to himself?" He heard someone whisper near by. Blushing, he shuffled away, towards the buffet table, where he shovelled food into his pockets. If he was going to be forced to work on Christmas Eve, he was going to be compensated.

III

"It looks like Nathaniel's having fun." Aiden noted as he and Ginny headed back onto the dance floor.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.

"Well, that's the third girl he's danced with since he got here. I think they're queuing up for him."

"Oh are they?" Ginny said, a little too tartly. Aiden looked at her strangely, before laughing.

"You two are protective of each other, aren't you?" He said, almost affectionately.

"Well…we have a lot to protect each other from." She reminded him, and he nodded.

"You do, you do." He sighed, and then offered her his hand, "Shall we dance?"

"I'd love too." Ginny smiled, taking his hand.

III

Harry, Ron and Hermione had finally finished cleaning up the house, and collapsed, exhausted in their beds.

"It's difficult." Ron said, out of the blue.

"What is?" Harry asked, lifting up his head.

"Every time I'm in the same room as my parents I want to tell them that Ginny's not dead." He explained, "It's getting difficult not to shout it out."

"Why can't we tell them?" Harry asked, "I was thinking about it all the time at Remus's, and I really don't get why we can't tell them."

"Well, for one thing, we'd have to tell them how we know." Hermione snapped, "I think Blaise might object to us putting her dad in prison, don't you? If we tell Ron's parents that Blaise's dad has been experimenting on Ginny, how do you think they'll react? And we'd also have to tell them all about Riddle, and we have no idea what they'll do about that. For all we know, they could throw Ginny to the Dementors."

"They wouldn't!" Ron exclaimed.

"They might." Hermione said darkly, "To get rid of Tom Riddle…You never know what they'll do."

"Who are 'they' Hermione?" Harry asked.

"The Ministry of course!" Hermione told him, "Those bunch of bigots. They think they're so wise…They'll consider Ginny a threat."

"So we're gonna look for her by ourselves?" Ron looked sceptical.

"I don't see why not." Hermione shrugged, "We've done some amazing things before, haven't we? I mean, we got past the teachers best defences when we were eleven! We're sixteen now, we can find Ginny."

"Yeah, yeah, I suppose we can." Ron agreed, nodding.

They sat quietly for a while, before Harry suddenly sat up.

"What's up?" Ron asked, confused.

"I think…" Harry looked confused, "I think I might miss Luna a bit."

There was a shocked silence, and Hermione's eyes bulged.

"Harry, I know we used to see a lot of her, but don't you think we may have seen a little too much of her?" The young Witch asked.

"Well, I dunno." He shrugged, "She was better friends with Ginny and Neville, but she was our friend too, and after Neville died and Ginny disappeared, we dumped her. I feel bad, I guess…"

"Well…what do you think Ron?" Hermione enquired.

"I think you're mad." Ron replied simply, "But probably right."

There was a silence after that. None of them said anything, but they all felt quite a bit better about themselves.

III

She wasn't trying to make him jealous. So it was really quite unfair that he was trying to make her jealous. And he was deliberately going for red heads. It was just plain cruel really. Then he disentangled himself with his latest partner, and looking her straight in the eye, walked out of the room. She fidgeted. She tried to amuse herself. She tried to talk to Aiden. But eventually…

"I'll be right back." Ginny assured Aiden, "Don't worry."

She made her way over to the door Draco had walked through, and, quickly checking to see if anyone was watching, followed him through it.

She should have checked harder.

Claudius Huntley followed.

III

Thanks to:

Silvinarrow- A…A…sequel? You mean more of this never ending story…? dies

Thedragonflier666-Hurrying up!

FireRoseRed-And Aiden, never forget Aiden…that girl gets ALL the guys.

Red-Devil15-Ah, the killing of non-living characters…

Damia - Queen of the Gypsi's-I like people making up their own mind about the way I write characters. Makes it more interesting.

Magic Crystal Rose-Yay for motivation!

TLSlark-Here's your update!

readingfreak742-It's so fun inflicting pain on characters… Now it's taking me forever to update :P

Ohepelss Oramtnci-Things always look like they're going better…until I decide to be evil :D

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! I now have 100 reviews! W00p w00p!