Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me.

A/N: All right, I'll give it to you guys straight- I think this story is an absolute load of trollop and is possibly one of the worst things written on this archive. After saying that, though, I want to finish this, just because there are one or two people who have read every chapter of this damned thing and will want to know how it ends. So, I will try and make updates quick- I want to get this thing finished by New Year's. So, to get me started, here's a nice, 4000 word chapter:

Chapter 16

-Finality

'I shall do it,' said Pooh, after waiting a little longer, 'by means of a trap. And it must be a Cunning Trap, so you will have to help me, Piglet.'

-Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne

----

"A final what?" Ginny repeated, confused.

Alistryna rolled her eyes at her. "A final rite helps the dead rise up to the Lord," she said as if talking to a four-year-old.

"A funeral, you mean," Ginny said slowly.

"If thou wilt, yes."

Ginny blanched as the realisation came to her. "You want us to find Virginia's body." It wasn't a question.

Alistryna just smiled at her.

"But-but we don't know where Virginia's body is hidden!" Ginny said loudly, a rush of panic spreading through her.

"You have enough clues," Alistryna answered back, obviously not worried in the least.

"We don't have any!"

"Nay, thou hast more than enough."

Ginny just looked at Alistryna in horror. There was no way they could find Virginia's skeleton in time.

There was a silence as Ginny tried desperately to think of the clues Alistryna had spoken of. None came to mind, but in the sudden silence she could hear the running water clearly and was reminded of where she was.

"We can talk later," Ginny said, making up her mind and reaching out to grab Alistryna's hand.

Alistryna pulled her hand away.

Ginny looked at her in surprise. "What are you doing? I need to get you out of here."

"No."

Ginny gave a deep sigh. "Alistryna, now is not the time to throw a hissy fit. I need to take you back to life."

Alistryna shook her head. "I ought to have come here a long time ago," she said with a ghostly smile. "Thou canst not take me away now. I deserve this rest."

"You're only eleven, Alistryna," Ginny told her firmly. "No one deserves to die at the age of eleven."

Alistryna shook her head sadly. "Nay. Tha dinny understand- I do not belong in thy world." She gestured to the darkness around her. "This is my world now."

"It doesn't have to be, Alistryna," Ginny said desperately. "You can come back with me, we can adopt you…"

Alistryna's expression didn't change, and Ginny felt her heart sink. "You came here for nothing then!" she cried angrily, feeling hot tears pricking her eyes. "You haven't helped us at all and now you're dead!" She'd thought that she could bring Alistryna back, that the little girl would be alive again. After all, who wouldn't want to live?

Alistryna, apparently.

Ginny knew she should respect Alistryna's wishes, but surely the girl didn't want to arrive in the realms of the dead now? Sure, she'd come from the Elizabethan times, but she was only eleven, and eleven year olds did not deserve to die whatever time period they came from.

"Please come, Ally," Ginny begged. What Alistryna wanted her to do wasn't right. She would not leave her here.

"I've given thee the particulars," the girl said coolly. "Now thou must depart."

Ginny's refusal was on the tip of her tongue, but suddenly the air changed. It became cooler, and Ginny's breath began to come out in a puff of white. Little icicles were beginning to form on her clothes. "What the-?"

Alistryna did not blink. "You should've left when you had the chance."

&&&&&

Hermione had been shocked when Ginny had told her about Sabine, but the more she thought about it the more it made sense. On her prefect patrols she'd often see Sabine sneaking off through the corridors, but although she'd given her a detention had never thought anything more of it. She'd just thought that the girl had a boyfriend. What else was she supposed to think? Sabine was pretty and funny, and a Gryffindor. What about the Dark Lord appealed to her?

Hermione had thought long and hard about how to expose Sabine. She knew that she couldn't just go up to Dumbledore and tell him- they had no hard, solid evidence, and Sabine would know that they were on to her. No, what this needed was a bit of cunning. Cunning was more a Slytherin trait than a Gryffindor one, but nevertheless Hermione had managed to come up with a plan she thought would be adequate.

She would write a letter claiming to be Lucius Malfoy requesting Sabine's presence at the top of the Astronomy Tower for business relating to 'their Lord'. If Sabine were innocent, she would hand the letter in to McGonagall and not turn up. If, on the other hand, she went to the tower that night…

…Hermione and Professor Dumbledore would be waiting for her. Well, Hermione would, at any rate. She hadn't clued Dumbledore in on the plan yet, but she was sure he would say yes.

First things first, though- she needed to write the letter, and make its delivery to Sabine look realistic. She would need a sample of Malfoy Senior's handwriting, and she'd also need to deliver it with Malfoy's owl. The latter was going to be hard, but Hermione had, of course, come up with a solution. She knew what the Malfoy family owl looked like thanks to Draco's gloating whenever his mother sent him sweets. All she needed to do was go up to the owlery and find an owl that look similar to the Malfoys'.

And the handwriting?

That was a little more difficult, and this was the part Hermione had a few misgivings about. To go through with her plan she would have to break quite a few rules, and breaking rules was not something the Head Girl should make a habit of. Still, Hermione reasoned, it wasn't as if she was going to make a habit out of breaking rules…she'd just break a few.

Only the major ones. Nothing much. Anyway, Ron and Harry broke rules all the time and it never seemed to do them any harm.

Hermione fingered the fabric of Harry's invisibility cloak. She hoped he wouldn't mind her borrowing it. As Head Girl she already knew the password for Slytherin's common room, but she had a feeling that the Slytherin students would find it a bit odd that she was rummaging through Draco Malfoy's trunk looking for a piece of his father's writing. She knew that they'd be much more agreeable to the idea if they didn't know about it. Besides, Ginny might trust Malfoy but Hermione wasn't so sure. Cursed or not he was still a Slytherin, and in Hermione's eyes that was suspicious enough for her to be worried.

Hermione's eyes dropped to the invisibility cloak in her hands and took a deep breath. Ginny was relying on her to catch Sabine, and so catch Sabine she would. Hermione threw the cloak over the top of her head and fastened it.

She'd used the invisibility cloak plenty of times before, but never by herself. She was filled with adrenalin, and a feeling that Hermione knew to be excitement. She was doing something forbidden- she was going to traipse through the school invisible, and rifle through another student's belongings. She was breaking the rules she tried every night to force other students to be obey.

"Yeah," Hermione whispered under her breath to herself, "You're a real rebel, Hermione Granger."

All right, so perhaps she wasn't exactly up to the standards of James Dean quite yet. But now she was following her own hare-brained scheme that she, not Harry or Ron, had made up. If she followed it right, it would be her, and not Harry or Ron who gained the attention or the accolades and stopped the bad guy (or in this case, the bad girl). It wasn't that she was jealous of them per se; it was just that, for once, she'd like to be remembered for something else than being the know-it-all muggle-born.

Hermione stepped out of the alcove she'd used to put on the invisibility cloak in secret. The hallway was empty, and not only could her footsteps her footsteps be heard, Hermione was positive anyone coming her way would be able to hear her pounding heartbeat as well. As she swiftly made her way down to the dungeons she tried to calm her nerves. "Breathe, Hermione, breathe," she told herself firmly as the entry to the Slytherin common room drew closer. "Breathe."

---

Ginny could do nothing but stare at Alistryna. Finally, she willed her mouth to work. "What's happening?" she whispered, partly because of cold and partly because, despite the black landscape around her, Ginny knew she was being watched.

"Flee."

"Not without you," Ginny whispered back with sudden vehemence. She'd ventured into this God-forsaken place to find Alistryna, and now that she had she would rescue her and take her away from spirit world. No one deserved to live out eternity in this barren wasteland.

A brief smile lit up Alistryna's face as if she could hear Ginny's thoughts, and was laughing at them. "'T'isn't-"

From somewhere behind Alistryna there came an unearthly shriek. Ginny knew that whatever it was, it had been the thing that Alistryna had just warned her about. "Come with me," she whispered once more, but Ginny knew it was a lost cause. If Alistryna felt she belonged here, there was nothing Ginny could do to stop her.

The animalistic scream came again, closer this time, and Ginny fancied the temperature dropped another few more degrees. She knew she should be going. She was freezing and Draco was waiting for her back on the mortal plane, not to mention that something was coming out of the darkness towards her, and she doubted it was friendly.

"Goodbye, Alistryna," Ginny spoke loud and clearly, enunciating each word. "Goodbye, and I hope this life treats you better than your last."

She didn't expect Alistryna to answer, and so she wasn't surprised when the younger girl just smiled in understanding. The smile was peaceful, blissful even, and Ginny was struck with the realization that Alistryna was happy here. At last the servant girl was free, free of all the obligations and expectations that had ever been placed upon her. Here, in Death, she was nothing but herself; no maid or farmer's daughter but just Alistryna Rhydderch. And so it was with this realization that Ginny didn't cry or beg for her to come back, but instead smiled as Alistryna's body gradually faded into the blackness until there was only Ginny herself left standing.

"Goodbye," she repeated, her voice echoing, and at the same time whatever it was out there in the darkness emitted another thin shriek, this time dangerously close. The noise made her flinch as the sound assaulted her delicate eardrums, and she desperately hoped that whatever was out there stayed Closing her eyes and thinking desperately of Draco in that little clearing in the Forest, Ginny could feel, rather than see, a large form oozing out of the blackness around her.

She tried to ignore it, and thought of Draco instead. How he had changed from the arrogant boy she'd met in her first year to the halfway decent (in her eyes, at least) man he'd become. He was counting on her to lift the curse, and Ginny Weasley was not going to let him down. Gone was the timid little thing she'd been in her younger years at school- she would show everybody just why she was placed in Gryffindor and not in Hufflepuff!

"Did you find out what she wanted?"

Draco's voice was so unexpected that Ginny opened her eyes with a very audible squeak. Draco looked at her with an eyebrow raised amusedly and repeated the question.

"Well, yes and no," Ginny said nervously, looking around the Forest. The fire in front of her had burnt down to coals and the surrounding clearing had been thrown into darkness. "I must have been there for a long time," Ginny ventured. It had only felt like minutes- how had the fire gone from a roaring blaze to a few burning coals in such a short period of time?

Draco shook his head and eyed the fire thoughtfully. "No, not more than fifteen minutes. The fire went out the moment you opened your yes."

Ginny shivered. Necromancy gave her the creeps. At least that creature from the afterlife or wherever she'd met Alistryna had not gone through the portal to this world. At least, Ginny hoped it had not. The ghost stories that revolved around such beasts echoed through her head and she stood up suddenly, wanting to be anywhere but in the Forbidden Forest. "Let's just go, and talk later," Ginny told Draco before glancing down at the remains of the vervain and Alistryna's wand. "Do you…do you think we should collect the pieces of Alistryna's wand?"

Draco shrugged. "You can if you want- I don't think there's a point. There's not much left of it, and you can't reuse it. Let's just get out of here- I want to know what she said to you. Is there a cure? Can we…"

Draco's voice faded into the background as Ginny crouched down beside the burnt mass of wood and shrivelled leaves that had helped to propel her into the Underworld. Draco had been right, there was very little left of Alistryna's wand now. A few blackened shards and a scorched piece of unicorn hair were the only pieces of evidence left indicating that anything magical had been burnt there, but Ginny wanted to keep them anyway. They were the only things she had left of Alistryna besides memories, and for some reason Ginny wanted to keep them. She took out a hanky from the pocket of her robes and carefully folded it over a few times.

"Oh, hurry up, for Merlin's sake." Draco's voice permeated her thoughts, but Ginny blacked his whining out again. She pinched the hanky between her fingers and carefully picked up the still hot sliver of wood. The warmth went through the thin material of the handkerchief, but Ginny ignored the hot tingling feeling as her skin touched the heat and instead concentrated on picking up the piece of unicorn hair. The hair was only slightly warm in comparison to the wood, and Ginny faintly remembered Snape telling them that unicorn hair was very resistant to fire. A fire of very high temperature must have caused the few scorch marks that were on it, Ginny surmised, and suppressed another shiver. There was no way a fire should have reached that temperature normally and have burnt out in only a few minutes, leaving something like the unicorn hair relatively cool to the touch.

"Will you get a move on?" Draco demanded, and Ginny reluctantly moved her gaze away from the fire and scrambled on to her legs. "This place is-"

"Scaring you?" asked Ginny, allowing a small smile to creep onto her face as she collected her wand and made sure she'd left nothing behind. "Is the poor ickle Slytherin Prince frightened?"

Draco didn't answer, but instead lifted his aristocratic nose higher into the hair and began walking swiftly back to school.

Ginny gave a sigh. Pompous Slytherins. "Draco, wait!" She crashed through the underbrush to catch up to him, barely missing exposed roots and some nasty plants Professor Sprout had warned them about. "Must you crash through the forest like that, Weasley?" Draco sniffed, raising a brow at her. "You sound like some kind of wild pig."

Ginny frowned. What had she done to put him in such a mood? She decided that the best course to take would be to ignore him. In the weeks she'd gotten to know Draco Malfoy better, she'd discovered that he could be extraordinarily childish sometimes, probably the result of his spoilt upbringing. And the only way to deal with a severely indulged child was to ignore them.

They managed to escape the Forbidden Forest without incident, and as soon as they reached the smooth expanses of lawn that marked Hogwarts' boundary Ginny flung herself down on the damp grass with relief. Draco sat himself down cautiously next to her, and Ginny could tell that he was trying not to mark his expensive robes. The two of them sat in silence for a few moments, gazing reflectively into the dark depths of the Forest. She was never going in there again, Ginny resolved, thinking back over all the times she'd ventured in there. Not even if Merlin himself came and implored her would she willingly go back into that place.

Not wanting to look at it anymore, Ginny lay down on her back and stared up at the sky. The huge midnight blue expanse above her was devoid of clouds, and the clean air of the countryside made the silver stars shine like beacons. They were splattered across the sky as if a painter had flicked spots of paint across a canvas and Ginny felt herself relax as she tried to pick out familiar constellations.

"Are you ever going to get around to telling me what happened or are you going to stay in your own world forever, Ginny?" Draco said gruffly from next to her, and even his bad mood couldn't stop Ginny's smile from spreading further across her face. "We have a small chance of lifting the spell," She said calmly, and Draco gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank Merlin," he said, obviously reassured, "when you came out of your trance I thought the girl had told you there was no hope, and then you wouldn't say anything…"

So that was what it was, Ginny thought, he wasn't angry with her, but scared. She should of told him immediately, she knew, but she'd just wanted to get out of the Forbidden Forest, and make sure that nothing had followed her out of the Underworld. "It's only a very small chance," Ginny told him timidly, sitting up reluctantly so that she could face Draco.

"Yes?" Draco's face was as eager as a child's when they were about to be given a sweet.

"Alistryna said that we should give Virginia's body a final rite," began Ginny, "you know, like…a funeral? We need to find her body, and I'm not sure but…" Ginny's voice faded away as she thought, "maybe some kind of prayer, or reburial, or something that shows that the Malfoy and Weasley families have made up and…well, respect her, for lack of a better word."

"I know what you mean," said Draco thoughtfully. "Something that shows her both sides of her family care about her, and about each other?"

Ginny nodded. "But…we still need to find her body. It could be anywhere, but I know it's not in her grave. There's just a headstone there. Besides, I think Wilfred might have thrown it down some ravine somewhere."

"Then we just search around the places where they used to live," said Malfoy, looking happier than Ginny had ever seen him. "This isn't mediwizardy- obviously, they can't have carried a beheaded corpse around England without somebody noticing them. They would've had to have dumped it somewhere close."

"Oh," said Ginny, feeling a trifle stupid. She felt a blush rising on her cheeks. She had to say something smart now so that Draco wouldn't think that she was-

Suddenly, without warning, Draco caught the back of her head in his hand and pulled her towards him. Ginny didn't even have time to give a squeak before his lips were on hers and he was kissing her passionately, fervently, ardently. Ginny let her hands wander so that they entwined themselves in his hair, and she moaned a little in the back of her throat. It was like all her dreams had come true at once- Draco Malfoy was kissing her, Ginny Weasley. Draco Malfoy.

Then as soon as it started it was over. Draco pulled back from the kiss, and Ginny opened her eyes to find him grinning at her. Ginny blinked dazedly. First Draco Malfoy had kissed her (not that she was complaining) and now he was grinning like a madman? Was he possessed?!

"This will all be over soon, Virginia," he told her confidently, standing to his feet before helping her up gently. Ginny smiled hesitantly at him and brushed the dirt of the back of her robes. Draco began to walk jauntily up to the castle, still smiling. Ginny stood by herself for a minute, her hand reaching up to touch her lips gently.

What had just happened?

---

Getting in to the Slytherin common room had been surprisingly easy, but getting into Draco Malfoy's room looked like it would be the opposite. Hermione had wasted a few moments gawking at their common room before wondering which room was his. Two passageways led out of the ornate room Hermione stood in, obviously leading towards the male and female dormitories. But which was which? And –Hermione began to feel a bit panicked- if their passageways were enchanted just like Gryffindor's, how would she be able to enter the boys' part of the dungeons?

Suddenly the answer came to her, and Hermione slapped herself on the head for being so stupid. Every seventh year prefect knew how to disable the wards in case of an emergency like a fire. All Hermione needed to do was disable the spell for about fifteen minutes while she raced up to Malfoy's room and found what she was looking for.

"You are dense sometimes, Hermione Granger," Hermione whispered to herself, as she walked to one passageway. She took a hesitant step further into the passageway and relaxed when she found she could walk through it without anything happened. This, then, must be the girls' section of the dungeons. She walked out and quickly crossed the common room to the other side, where the boys' dormitories' entrance was. She surveyed the entrance for a few moments as she decided exactly what to do. The large, square entrance was rimmed with engraved stones. Hermione recognised a few from her Ancient Runes class- they were mostly protection spells and spells for well being. A good idea, thought Hermione, Gryffindor needs some of those-

Hermione shook herself out of those thoughts and concentrated on the matter at hand- how to get in. Now, what was that spell again? Something Latin, of course, but was it two words or one, and just where was the accent?

After a moment's reflection Hermione took out her wand and muttered the spell she thought –no, hoped- was right. Nothing seemed to happen, but Hermione hadn't expected that there would be.

There was only one thing for it, Hermione decided, and that was to try and walk through the passageway. If she'd done the spell right, nothing would happen to her. If she hadn't- well, the Slytherins were known for their strange discouragement methods. Hermione took a deep breath and closed her eyes before steeping through the entranceway.

Nothing happened.

Hermione opened her eyes cautiously. She checked herself carefully for any signs of a spell. There were no polka dots, no stripes, and no funny hair colours. Hermione let out a sigh of relief. The spell had worked. Now, she needed to find Malfoy's room.

The nearest door was marked with a plaque, and Hermione drifted closer to have a look. First Years

Not that room, then. Hermione began to wander along the passageway, searching for the plaque that read Draco Malfoy.

It was just next to the seventh year's dormitories. A plain, nondescript door with a little silver plaque on it. Praying it was unlocked, Hermione carefully placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it. As the door opened, Hermione peered around the corridor to make sure everyone was still asleep before stepping inside and closing the door firmly behind her.

---

Now, I command you, review!!

Thankyou to those people who reviewed last chapter:

Happigolucki616; Momentyne hopefully I'll review a bit quicker this time; HeraSilverheart; Koranity Thankyou! Asereje Very close!; Slytherin's Queen Thankyou. I felt very sorry for Draco in that scene; Iced Faerie; Luna Writer; dragon dreamer Well, you know I love cliffahngers! TarynMalfoy88 Very close! Skygazing; Sangel; Summerkins; the pianist Dumbledore knows a bit more than he's letting on :) ; Milan Sivel I am definitely going to finish this, don't worry! Angelbear; Arafel2 Draco and Ginny will definitely be getting together, I promise you; Kawaii Ryu thankyou! PhoenixPrincess there you go, a bit of D/G action! And last but not least, fcuking cathy.

Thankyou, come again. (/Apu voice)