Author: Lee Velviet

Disclaimer: I own nothing! You know who luckily owns all this stuff - J.K. Rowling, etc, etc.

Summary: Ginny is in her Seventh Year at Hogwart's when she discovers the ghost of Lucius Malfoy's twin brother Alaraby residing in the Astronomy Tower. They become close and Ginny decides to help him move on. She doesn't count on falling in love with him, or that Lucius might return when he hears of Alaraby's existence to finish him off for good.

(A/N: Give it a chance! Let me know what you think! - Lee)

- Chapter One: The Death in the Tower -

Alaraby Faustus Malfoy looked at his brother Lucius over his wand angrily.

"This is beneath even you, Luc." He glared at his brother in disbelief. "How could you do this?"

They were in the Astronomy Tower of Hogwarts. It was in the middle of the night, and the graduation ceremony for the seventh years was being held in the morning. Alaraby had come looking for his brother. He had a tendency to have to chase the wearisome young man and keep him out of trouble - he had promised his Mother on her deathbed after all. Nights like these, though…he shook his head wearily.

Lucius looked up from the cowering Ravenclaw girl beneath him and smirked at his brother. "What's wrong, 'Laraby? Jealous?"

"Let her go," Alaraby muttered through clenched teeth. "And then we're going to go see Dumbledore."

Lucius threw back his sLeek blonde head and laughed. "Right." He stood, looking down at the girl. "Get out of here - say a word to anyone and I'll kill you."

The pretty dark haired girl whimpered and scrambled to get up, barely looking at Alaraby as she ran past.

He kept his wand trained on his brother, his pale silvery eyes narrowed. "You've gone too far this time, Luc. I'm not covering up for you anymore."

Lucius withdrew his wand from his robes lazily. "I can't let you go spouting off about everything you've seen here, tonight."

Alaraby shook his head. "Voldemort has you thinking you're invincible, Luc." He eyed the black skull and snake freshly burned into his brother's exposed forearm. "You're not."

Lucius chuckled unpleasantly.

"What are you going to tell Narcissa? Don't you even care what she thinks?"

"You must be joking. The girl has a brain the size of a dehydrated pea." Lucius cocked his head thoughtfully. "She'll make the perfect wife - beautiful, and dumb as a box of rocks."

"You're going to marry Narcissa and here you are taking advantage of some poor sixth year with a misplaced crush?" Alaraby shook his head, looking at his brother in disgust.

Lucius shrugged. "She came up here of her own free will." He pointed his wand at his twin. "I gave you several chances to join us. I must say, I'm rather disappointed in you, 'Laraby. I don't know how you and I came from the same parents. You always have been sadly lacking in Malfoy honor."

Alaraby shook his head, unable to believe the show of arrogance. "Honor. You have a perverse sense of it, you twisted bastard. Mother would roll in her crypt if she knew you'd become a Death Eater. Once word of this gets out, you'll end up in Azkaban and bring shame to the family name - Father will disown you the moment he hears."

Alaraby looked at his brother pleadingly. "Think of what you're doing, Luc. For Merlin's sake, for once think of the consequences of your actions. You're throwing your life away."

Lucius looked at him coldly, his hand shaking in his sudden rage. "Leave it to you to bring Mother into this! You were always the perfect one, always the 'good' one." He took several steps forward, a sudden gust of wind from the balcony swirling around his black school robes.

"She loved you to her dying breath, you bloody stupid prat." Alaraby gritted his teeth, clutching his wand. "Let me help you."

Lucius looked at him almost sadly. "Sorry, 'Laraby. It's too bad you had be such a fucking wet blanket all the time. We could have been unstoppable."

"What the hell are you talking about - " Alaraby twisted around, eyes widening, as everything seemed to move in slow motion. He saw a hooded figure at the top of the stairs leading into the tower, a wand pointed at him - And then there was a flash of green light and…nothing.

-

Present Day Hogwarts, Seventh Year

-

Ginny trudged up the stairs into the Astronomy Tower tiredly - it was fifteen minutes until curfew, and she'd realized she'd gone and left her Arithmancy book up there.

She yawned tiredly, thankful that Christmas vacation was only two weeks away. The massive load of homework was burning her out.

Ginny tugged hard on the cold iron ring in the big wooden door, and shivered slightly as it swung outward, groaning loudly on it's hinges.

She stepped inside, illuminating her way with her wand, and almost screamed when she saw someone standing there. "Oh!"

The figure turned her way, and then abruptly disappeared.

Ginny did scream then.

"Don't worry, Miss, it was only young Malfoy."

Ginny looked at Sir Nicholas thankfully as he hovered next to her on the steps outside of the tower. He'd popped up as soon as she'd yelled.

Ginny sat down, her heart racing from fear. "Draco? What would he be doing up here?"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't being clear. The young Malfoy I'm speaking of is, er - " he shrugged, causing his head to flop slightly alarmingly on his neck. "Well, I'm afraid he's...expired."

"Oh." Ginny frowned, taking a deep breath. "I don't know why I yelled like I did, it's not as if I haven't seen ghosts before," she grinned at Sir Nicholas, looking at the stonewall right through him.

"It does get rather dark up here, Miss."

She looked around the dark stairwell, shuddering faintly. "Yes, I noticed." She looked behind her at the door and asked curiously, "You said there is a ghost named Malfoy in there? Why haven't I ever seen him or heard about him before?"

Sir Nicholas made a waving gesture with his hands. "He's not a terribly old ghost - he's only been here for, oh, twenty years, I suppose. He's not terribly sociable. Keeps to himself. Rather gloomy fellow if you ask me."

"Oh. Do you...know how he died?"

Sir Nicholas barely shook his head. "Voldemort. It was a wrongful death, I assure you. The boy was murdered, I believe. I never really asked, such an indelicate thing to talk about, you see. It's a shame, really, he was always a generous, thoughtful sort. He was in Gryffindor, you know."

Ginny looked at him, surprised. "A Malfoy in Gryffindor? That had to be a first."

"Oh, nay, not all from the Malfoy line have been such bad apples - though the good ones have been far and few between. No, I can't recall his name now, but he was the twin of Lucius Malfoy, if I remember correctly." He scowled. "Ahh, Lucius, now there was a bloody rotten one. You've never seen a set of twins so different from each other."

Ginny felt sorry for the boy. If he'd been haunting the tower for twenty years, that meant he'd died when he was...seventeen. She was now the same age as he'd been.

"How sad," Ginny shook her head, and reached for the door again. "I really do need to get my book," she said to the air apologetically as she stepped inside. There was no answer.

She felt eyes on her though, as she crossed the room to a desk. A warm breeze blew in from the balcony, and Ginny felt goose bumps race along her arms and legs as she reached for her book.

"Sorry to have disturbed you," Ginny found herself saying softly as she walked to the door.

Sir Nicholas was waiting outside.

"Thank you for coming to check on me, Sir Nicholas," Ginny told the ghost gratefully as they started down the stairs.

Sir Nicholas bowed, his hand clapped firmly on top of his head. "Of course, Miss."

At the bottom of the steps the Fat Friar, the Hufflepuff ghost, met them and he was looking rather urgent. "Sir Nicholas, Peeves has been at it again, and I can't find the Baron -"

Sir Nicholas made a sound of disgust and with a final bow to Ginny, floated off quickly with the round little ghost.

Ginny yawned and turned back around to look up the stairs leading to the Astronomy deck - her eyes widened when she saw the door at the top of the steps slightly ajar, and then it suddenly closed with a snap.

She backed away, her nerves jangling, and turned away, making quickly for the warmth and safety of Gryffindor Tower.

-

(A/N: Hi! Sorry this was so short, but I wanted to get some reactions on it before I bothered putting anymore into it - the story's a bit farfetched, I know, and Alaraby (I totally stole that name from someone on The Weakest Link!) isn't a real character, but I think he's got potential. Anyway, let me know what you think! Thanks! Lee)