I am ALIVE! I am Sooo sorry for the lack of update. I haven't quit it. Just… er… procrastinating again. A small warning… parts of this chapter are quite a bit darker. I don't think it warrant's a rise in rating, but you have been warned. I have put a few notes to the reviewers on the bottom. (If you are interested.) Well thanks for bearing with me.

Aleigh Walker

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Last night I looked up into the endless black sky,

And realized what I was,

And perhaps what I was not.

The things that I have not done,

Reflect the person I am perhaps,

Even more than the things I have.

Last night I looked up into the endless black sky,

And was not ashamed.

Amber Evans

Sacrifices

Seconds stretched into infinity in the aftermath of the miniscule battle between the two tattoos. At first, nobody spoke or moved as they tried to register the impossible. The dark mark had been repelled. The Deatheaters collectively held their breath as they waited for Voldemort's response to this unexpected defiance. To refuse the Dark Lord was to invite death.

Ginny watched in horror as Voldemort grew livid with anger. His lips pulled back into a snarl, baring his unnaturally sharp teeth. Glowing eyes burned inexplicably bright as Voldemort dove into the depths of Draco's mind. She watched his face contort with pain as You-Know-Who investigated his brain. With a roar of frustration, the Dark Lord pulled out of Draco's mind.

"Who gave you the mark of the dragon?" He demanded as he jabbed his wand into the soft skin behind Draco's jaw below his ear. "Who protects you?" Voldemort snarled as random sparks emitted form the tip of the wand.

"I don't know." Gasped Draco in pain.

"Tell me." Voldemort threatened. The tip of his wand was arching radically now.

When Draco remained defiantly silent, Ginny felt certain that she would be returning to the cell by her self. Abruptly Voldemort drew back and released Draco, allowing him to slide to the floor. Giving him a momentary reprieve.

"So be it." Voldermort spat out coldly. His eyes glittered with a mixture of anticipation and malice that made Ginny recoil as far as Snap's grasp would allow.

Voldemort turned and issued forth a horrifying combination of hissing and spiting. The hairs on the back of Ginny's neck and arms raised themselves in protest. She knew he was talking to a snake. She bit back a protesting cry. She hated snakes. She hated the sound of someone speaking to them. Parseltounge.

A rustling sound reached her ears before the actual appearance of the large snake. She watched as the nose poked around the back of the raised platform that they were standing before. A chocked gasp escaped past her lips. The snake was huge. Ginny estimated it must be at least twelve feet long. Perhaps even longer. She was unsure because of the undulating motion of the moving snake. It slithered up to Voldemort and placed its head directly under his outstretched hand.

"Nagini is always willing to take care of any fool that I have no intention of myself troubled with." He gently caressed the snake's raised head. In return, the huge snake gently flicked his arm with her tongue. Great. It liked him. This could not possibly be good.

With a few hissing noises from Voldemort, Nagini left her position by his side and approached the still kneeling form of Draco. The large snake bared her fangs at him. Ginny watched him struggle to his feet as the Deatheaters near him backed up. Presumably to get away from the serpent predator. For once Ginny completely agreed with her captors.

When Nagini had completely encircled Draco, Ginny found herself thrust into the arms of a nearby Deatheater by Snape. She watched in disbelief as he actually stepped over the tail of the advancing serpent. He knelt at the feet of the Dark Lord, silently requesting permission to speak.

"You dare beg for the traitors life?" Voldemort asked softly, addressing Snape's prone form in a dangerous undertone.

"No my Lord." Professor Snape replied calmly as he waited for permission to explain his actions.

For several seconds Voldemort said nothing as he silently judged the kneeling figure before him. It wasn't entirely unknown for You-Know-Who to torture one of his followers for much much less. With no small measure of relief to Ginny, he finally nodded.

"Speak." He flicked his hand in a gesture that allowed Snape to rise and address him.

"It occurred to me, my Lord, that he could be susceptible to more than one type of bite. He can still be forced to serve you." With one hand, he gestured behind him to a figure in the back.

"Ahh. I see. Greyback." He beckoned, his expression thoughtful as he watched Snape drop back to allow the approaching Deatheater to take his place.

From the corner of her eye, Ginny caught sight of the Deatheater in question. He looked as if he was some sort of 'wild-man' crammed into his black robes. He was seemingly too tall, too wide for the standard robes issued to Deatheaters. His hair lay in tangled greasy locks on his back and his teeth and nails were decidedly yellow.

As she watched him move across the floor, Ginny felt her skin prickle. He walked… oddly. Ginny had the disturbing impression of a wild animal stalking it's prey. He was a werewolf, she realized with horrified fascination. When he reached Voldemort he simply nodded and stood in the spot that Snape had just vacated. No other gesture seemed necessary or expected on his part.

"Do you think your ranks could use this?" Voldemort asked as he gestured to Draco, who was still held prisoner by Nagini.

"Well," Greyback rasped, "I'm sure I could use him fore something. With a few improvements of course." His rasping voice gave way to barking laughter. Hands tightened convulsively upon her shoulders as the Deatheater holding her flinched involuntarily.

"Very well, it is settled." He turned to Draco and Nagini. "You shall have the honor to serve me after all. Nagini, come." Even without speaking in Parseltounge the large snake must have understood him, for she released Draco and slithered back the way she had come and disappeared behind the dais.

Free of the snake, Draco picked up the end of his chain and idly swung it in a circle. The reaction from Greyback was immediate. He bared his teeth and growled at Draco. Several of the Deatheaters near Draco stepped back even further. Greyback dodged the swinging chain and wrapped one hand around Draco's neck.

"Don't get cocky pup." He growled. "The only reason you haven't been bit yet, is because we keep sending in the new recruits. They still have a hard time telling their teeth from their tail. This time you won't be so lucky." With his free hand, he ripped the silver chain out of Draco's grip. Ginny noticed that he ignored the pain as the silver burned his exposed skin.

"Is he the only one this moon?" Greyback asked the Dark Lord. "What about that one?" with a jerk of his head he indicated Ginny who was still being held by the two unknown Deatheaters.

"If she is changed, it is of no concern." Voldemort gave a negligent shrug. "However, if you accidentally kill her, the repercussions will not be pleasant." He paused as he gave Ginny a measuring glance. "I still have plans for her."

After he spoke, a black robed figure pushed through the ranks and approached the dais. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"They are here my Lord." The Deatheater bowed low in respect. Voldemort nodded in acknowledgement.

"Excellent." His gaze settled upon Ginny once again. "I expect you will find this very informative." He delivered a mocking parody of a smile. "Chain them to the wall. Let them watch for a while."

She soon found herself being unceremoniously drug across the room to a neighboring wall. Once there, they chained them to the awaiting rings. As soon as they were secure, the Deatheaters ignored them and started back to the main cluster of people near Voldemort. Beside her Draco rubbed at his neck while grumbling about permanent fingerprints.

From across the hall an ear-piercing scream filled the room. Ginny jumped in surprise and looked at Draco in question. A rousing cheer erupted from the group of black clad wizards and witches.

"Draco, what's going on?" she asked worriedly. If it made the Deatheaters cheer, then she wanted no part of it.

"Entertainment. When they have a successful hit, they always bring some back to 'enjoy' at their leisure." He said grimly.

"They are going to torture people in front of us?" she asked horrified.

"In a word, yes." Draco's words came out clipped and his face was strained as he stared fixedly ahead.

Ginny followed his gaze across the room and watched as the new prisoners were brought out to stand before Voldemort. There were about fifteen of them in all. Each one more terrified than the next. She noticed that they were all women and children. Presumably, the men had been killed on the spot.

She watched as a few of the women were taken out of the group and passed out into the sea of black robes. They tried in vain to stay with the group as they were inevitably separated. Ginny quickly lost sight of the dispersed women. Judging from the cried of fear and pain, mixed with the laughter and cheers of the Deatheaters, she wasn't sure she actually wanted to see them.

One woman still with the main group clutched her child tightly in her arms and looked around wildly. The boy must have been about five, and he gazed at the room over his mother's shoulders with wide innocent eyes. She turned and whispered something in his ear and he nodded in response.

Ginny watched her search for a possible exit and then her body stiffened as she took a good look at the figure upon the dais before her. For a long moment, the woman simply stared at him. Obviously not completely believing what she was seeing. After all, things like him didn't exist in her world. At least, not that she knew of.

She rubbed the boy's back as he clung to her in fear. Further back in the crowd, another yell sparked her into action. After taking a deep breath, she approached Voldemort. From their removed positions, Ginny and Draco couldn't hear the actual words that she said, but it was obvious from the tone that she was begging for her and the child's life. Voldemorts response was laughter. Ginny huddled closer to the wall at her back even as she watched the young woman back up towards the rest of the group, and relative safety.

"Deatheaters." Voldemort's voice carried magically over the din of the chamber. "This one has begged me to not touch her child. She has offered her life in exchange." There were a few evil chuckles over this. Ginny heard the woman issue a few urgent words to the Dark Lord, and he nodded slyly.

"She in fact demands that no-one touches her child. Gracious lord that I am, I have decided to grant her this one last boon." The woman in question sagged visibly in relief seemingly oblivious to the chuckles of the surrounding Deatheaters.

"Release the boy." He commanded.

Slowly she knelt down upon one knee. One last time she hugged her son and kissed him on the cheek. After brushing her eyes with the back of her hand, she whispered her last few words to her child and hugged him tight again before she stood. With a gentle push, she propelled him away from her.

"How touching." The mocking words rang forcibly throughout the hall. "Are you ready?" he asked and was answered with a small nod from the woman.

The first sign that something was horribly wrong had been the Deatheater's laughter during the announcement. The second, was the fact that she had been given time to say goodbye to her son. The third, and most obvious sign, was the fact that Voldemort drew his wand. He pointed his wand at the little boy.

"IMPERIO" The spell was directed at the young boy. Ginny watched the spark of life ebb from his body. "Nott, give the child a knife." Voldemort instructed.

The mother looked on in growing horror as Nott handed her young son a wicked looking knife. She turned and asked Voldemort a question that made him laugh. Ginny cringed; she couldn't think of a worse sound than that of his laughter.

"Kill your mother." He gleefully instructed the child.

Ginny tried to turn her head away, but somehow she found herself unable too. As the child approached his mother, she backed slowly away, trying unsuccessfully to reason with him. During her retreat, she wound up coming closer and closer to the two chained to the wall. They could clearly hear her trying to reason with her own son, ignorant of the reasons he was suddenly obeying a complete stranger.

"We had a deal. If you fail to uphold your part of the bargain, I shall have no choice but to do likewise." Voldemort's cold voice made the woman freeze in her tracks.

The look on the lady's face was contorted in hatred as she looked at the cause of all of her pain. As her gaze shifted to her son, her face softened and a few stray tears slipped down her cheek. Astonishingly she once again knelt upon the stone floor. Frozen, Ginny could only watch helplessly as she opened her arms wide to welcome her child.

Their was surprisingly little sound as the knife slid smoothly into her chest cavity. Aside from her initial cry of pain, she said nothing else as she wrapped her arms around her son. For a long moment neither of them moved. Then the boy pulled back and pulled on the knife stuck in his mother's chest. Lacking the strength to pull the weapon cleanly out, he twisted and jerked on the knife until it finally pulled free.

The sucking noise was almost completely masked by her cry of pain. Without the knife to plug the hole, blood flooded out of her in alarming rates. She clamped her hand over the flowing wound and then brought it up to her face and stared at the red smear in shock. Judging from the flow of blood, her heart had been hit. In a minute, she had fallen over onto her side and silently gazed at her son as her blood carpeted the stone floor.

Across the room, Voldemort stood and approached her rapidly fading form. He halted in her line of sight next to the boy.

"Your life in exchange for me not touching the boy was it not?" he questioned cagily. He turned and pointed his wand at her child once again. Her eyes widened in horrified realization.

"Avada Kedavra" he purred gleefully.

She watched as her son instantly crumpled and landed at Voldemort's feet. She looked into her son's lifeless eyes as her own life faded. She gave one last shuddering breath and was still.

The resounding cheer from the Deatheaters shook the stone columns. Ginny could only stare in horror at the two still forms upon the cold stone floor. Things like this weren't supposed to happen. They just weren't. Unbidden, Draco's earlier words echoed through her mind.

Evil wins. And if it doesn't, then the price is too high. Still evil is not defeated. That is the way the world works.

NO. She didn't believe it. She wouldn't, couldn't believe it.

"NO!" she screamed as she launched herself at the nearest Deatheater.

She was vaguely aware of Draco at her side, slamming his fist into the face of the one she had tackled. She felt someone grab a hold of her foot and pull. Screaming in rage, she turned on them. Through the sheen of tears, she swung, scratched and bit at anything near her. For a brief instant, she noticed the lack of grabbing hands. Then she felt was the pain.

Waves upon waves of agony coursed through her as an unknown person continued to apply the Cruciatas upon her. Sheer torment coursed through her body repeatedly, until she feared the pain would snap her spine as she writhed upon the floor. In the distance, she thought she heard herself screaming, but she couldn't tell over the pain.

Somewhere between her first scream and her last, Ginny vowed to make certain that every single Deatheater paid for their crimes. If it took the very last breath in her body to see it done, she would pay that price gladly. She clung to that thought with all her might as her world once again faded to black.

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A dark cloaked figure glided down the darkly lit halls with the unconscious forms of Ginny and Draco following in the air behind. After glancing in the direction he had come from Snape took off his mask and lowered the hood of his cloak. Gently, he set the two bodies upon the stone floor. He approached Draco, knelt down and revived him.

Abruptly awake, Draco shot into a sitting position ready for anything. He spied Snape mutely studying him and relaxed slightly. Snape stood and offered an arm to assist Draco up off the floor. After a pause, Draco took it.

"Long time no see, Professor." Draco said evenly as he straitened and wiped a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth. He looked down at the red smear across his thumb and frowned.

"I think that the bloody brutes over did it." He complained.

"You think so?" questioned Snape condescendingly. Draco ignored him.

"What do you want Snape?" Draco asked, and then he frowned in worry. "Has anything happened to the Queen?" He looked troubled at this possibility.

"The Queen is still ruler of all she surveys." Snape answered reassuringly. "Nothing has changed."

Tension drained from Draco's frame as he accepted this new information. He acknowledged Snape with a curt nod and walked over to Ginny's unconscious form. Kneeling at her side, he gently pressed two fingers to the side of her neck to check her pulse. Satisfied with what he found, he stood again and turned to face Snape.

"So why arrange this meeting if the Queen is fine? Miss me that much?" mocked Draco.

"I have an assignment for you." Snape withdrew an object from a hidden pocket in his robe and tossed it to Draco.

Draco reflexively snatched it out of mid-air. In shock, he gaped at it. His gaze swung alternately from the thing he was holding, to Ginny lying helpless on the stone floor, and then to Snape who was watching him with great interest.

"What is the meaning of this?" Draco demanded as he clenched the object tight in his fist.

"I want you to use it to take care of the Gryffindor." Snape drawled.

Draco swung around to look at Ginny again; he then turned back to Snape in surprise. "When?" he managed to choke out.

"Don't use it now," Snape instructed. "You will know when the right time is." He then tuned his back and continued to escort them back to their cell without another word.

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To everyone who liked the dragon. Thanks, I like him too. And, he will be back!

Anna: I DO appreciate honest feedback. I looked at the book and then at my story, and… your right. However, I find that I honestly don't know how to fix it. I suppose the problem is with the way I view him. He is a one-dimensional character to me. I can sum him up with two thoughts. One, he's bad. Two, Harry has to kill him. Still I did try to make him a little bit more menacing in this chapter. Hopefully I did a little better at least.

Did you know, I had first envisioned a eight or nine chapter long story…. It's GROWING on me! (Sheepish shrug)