A Life in the Past

Everybody turned to Annabelle, who scowled rather rudely.

"We did not raise you to act this way," said Alfred, his voice amazingly still understanding. "Cooperate, please."

Annabelle shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "Shan't!" she cried. "Shall never tell you!"

"Please," said Ginny. "Do you not care for your brother? I could never do such a thing to a member of my family and not feel painful guilt. You're already a terrible enough person, but this is just too much..."

Annabelle looked at Ginny and her expression softened. But only for a moment, because after a few seconds, her scowl was back in place. "You make me sick," she said disgustedly. "Speaking of me in this way, look at yourself."

"Oh, that's it," said Ginny, becoming angry. "You're out of line!" She threw herself at the other girl, knocking her clean off her feet. "Are you going to tell us, or would you rather my fist talk for you?" She held her clenched fist only centimetres away from the tip of Annabelle's nose, as though ready to punch her.

"Shan't say," said Annabelle, surprisingly still stubborn, even though she was at risk of having her nose greatly damaged.

"Think you'd look nice with a broken nose, do you?" said Ginny, pulling her fist back for more power.

Everybody watched in terror as Ginny fist whipped through the air, and hit Annabelle's face with a nasty crack.

There were tears welling up in Annabelle's eyes, but still, she did not give in.

"You're not going to tell?" asked Ginny.

Annabelle shook her head.

"Is it a black eye you're after?" said Ginny. "Is that what you want?"

Annabelle blinked, making tears run down the side of her face.

Ginny bit her bottom lip uneasily. Annabelle looked so innocent, so much like herself, it wouldn't be right to hurt her. But then again, she was stubborn, arrogant, insufferable...

"Oh, what the heck?" said Ginny casually, and she threw Annabelle another punch, this time in the left eye, which turned red very quickly.

All the while, Annabelle's family stood aside to watch, while Draco and Ron egged Ginny on with words of encouragement. Hermione on the other hand, was watching with utmost disapproval, and Harry, who stood beside her, watched with shock and horror in his bright green eyes.

Annabelle's eyes were brimmed with tears, and she was holding her breath, as to not give Ginny the satisfaction of knowing how hurt she really was.

"Are you ready to tell?" asked Ginny.

Annabelle hesitated, before sniffling and shaking her head, finding it difficult to stay stubborn.

"She's really stupid," Draco said to Ron. "If that was me, I would've given up before the first punch."

"Yeah, that's because you're weak," Ron snickered.

"You would too," said Draco.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Ron said with a shrug. "She really is stupid."

"So you're not giving up?" Ginny asked Annabelle.

Annabelle shook her head.

Ginny stood up. "You've got pride," she said. "I'd admire that, if I didn't want to kill you right now."

Annabelle sat up, tears pouring down her nose, which was severely bruised. "Tis a simple that will open the door," she choked. "Yet still, I do not give up."

"A spell?" said Ginny. "I don't suppose you'll tell us the spell?"

Annabelle shook her head.

"Oh! I know!" said Hermione. "Who has a wand?"

Alfred pulled a wand out of his cloak. "A wand, I have," he said.

"Can I use it?" Hermione asked.

"Of course, child," Alfred replied, handing the wand to Hermione.

Hermione pointed the wand at the door. "Alohamora," she muttered.

And it really was that simple, because a moment later, the lock clicked open, and Hermione removed it from its place in the door. She turned around to face a crowd of anxious looking Weasleys, an upset Potter, and a smirking as usual Malfoy.

"In we go," said Draco, cheerily. "We rescue this William boy, then find some time portal back to the present, and once again, Harry Potter has saved the day."

"Wilfred," Tobias corrected him.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione glared at Draco.

"What?" asked Draco. "This group needs a leader, and I'm volunteering."

"Fine then," said Hermione. "I nominate Harry for group leader."

"I second that," said Ron, raising his hand.

Draco scowled. "That's not fair," he said. "The rest of these people are sheep. They'll do whatever you tell them."

"And just for that, Malfoy," said Nigel. "I vote for Harry."

"And I," said Nicholas.

"Oh yeah, take his side," said Draco. "Sheep, every last one of you, you're all sheep. Except Annabelle, she's just psychotic."

"So that is final," said Jonathon. "Harry is our ruler."

"Oh no, don't go that far," said Draco. "He's just going to tell you lot what to do, as for me, I'm my own boss."

"Draco Malfoy, you're a part of this 'group,' as you call it, too," said Ginny. "You'll do whatever Harry says, just like the rest of us."

"IÂ will not," said Draco. "I don't have to."

"Fine then, you can stay here and find your own way back," said Ron. "And I'll bet you anything you'll be killed by mad Muggles once your out of this place."

"When you put it like that," said Draco. "Maybe I'll just come with you. But I'm not doing anything Potter tells me to."

"Don't worry, Malfoy," said Harry. "I wouldn't even trust you with my cousin's life, and I'd let him die any day."

"Oh thank you, Potter," said Draco. "And I wouldn't even trust you with Longbottom's life."

"That was stupid,"Â Ron said plainly.

"Shut up, Weasley," said Draco.

"Are we going to stand here and argue all day?" Hermione asked. "Or are we going in there?"

"We're going," said Harry, putting his hand on the door handle. Just as he was about to open the door, Annabelle let out an ear piercing scream.

Everyone turned to look at her. She looked as though in the greatest pain, he fists were clenched, and she was still sitting on the stone ground, looking very sinister indeed.

"What's her problem?" said Draco, as though this was the last thing on his mind.

"She's just trying to stall for time," said Ginny. "She's probably got some sick plan up her sleeve."

Annabelle crawled across the floor to Ginny and grasped Ginny's ankle. Ginny kicked Annabelle in the face, but Annabelle did not release Ginny's ankle, instead, she did the most unexpected thing possible, and bit it.

Ginny flinched; nobody had ever bit her ankle before, and she did not like it at all. She reached down and tugged at a chunk of Annabelle's hair.

Annabelle shrieked with agony again, and Ginny pulled violently at the other girl's hair.

"What are you, two?" said Draco. "Honestly, biting someone is not normal."

"Wench!" Annabelle shrieked, in a voice that sounded as though she was possessed by demons.

"You know what?" said Ginny, very casually. "You lot go on without me, I want to teach this b-er... this cow, a lesson."

"I'll stay here," said Draco. "You know, in case Annabelle gets too out of hand."

"If they're both staying," said Ron. "So am I. I can't leave them here alone together."

"We won't be alone," said Ginny, struggling to keep Annabelle off her leg. "We've got this wench to keep us company."

"Ron, we need you with us," said Hermione.

"Why?" asked Ron. "You only need one person to open the door, get Wilfred, come back out here, then we go back to the Burrow."

 "Then we'll all just wait out here until Potter gets back," said Draco.

"Why me?" asked Harry.

"Because that's your job," said Draco. "Saving people."

"Why don't you go, Malfoy?"Â Harry asked.

"Because if I die in there, I'll be missed," said Draco. "If you die, well, you won't really be missed, the world will just lose one of its heroes, which isn't a problem, there's too many of you."

Ron lunged himself at Draco, knocking Draco onto the bottom steps of the stair case. He was a millimetre away from punching him when Ginny grabbed hold of his fist.

"Ron, no," she said.

"You heard what he said," Ron growled.

"Yeah, and what do you want me to do about it?"Â asked Ginny.Â

"Why are you being so protective of this, this evil prat?" said Ron, astonished at his sister.

"Ron," said Ginny, warningly.

Ron got to his feet and dusted himself off. "Fine," he said. "Fine. You've completely lost your mind, but that's all right, because you've been stuck with Malfoy for the past couple of days."

"Yeah," said Ginny. "That explains it."

"All right, so you're completely brain dead," said Ron. "I'll go with Harry then, I don't have to worry about you. And you can fight, so if Malfoy so much as lays a finger on you, you'll kick the living daylights out of him, right?"

"Yeah," said Ginny. "Of course."

Ron nodded. "Come on, Harry," he said. "We're going in."

"So am I," said Hermione.

"Yes, and I," cried Martha. "He is my poor son, I must see him!"

"We shall all go, mother," said Ebenezer.

"What's the big deal?" Draco said to Ginny. "It's probably a stuffy little room with a half-dead little prat inside it. Why do they all want to go?"

"Family," said Ginny. "Who knows?"

Harry opened the door to a dark chamber. There were three doors within that chamber.Â

He turned to look at his legion of Weasleys, and Hermione. "We're going to have to make a few decisions," he said.

Ron and Hermione stepped forward.Â

"Well let's get going," said Ron, entering the next chamber, with Hermione directly behind him.

Harry followed them, and behind him, the Weasley family slowly began entering the chamber, but Annabelle remained where she was, with Ginny and Draco hovering behind her.

Tobias, who was the last Weasley to enter the next chamber, closed the door behind him, leaving Annabelle, Draco, and Ginny alone with the rotting corpse.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Annabelle burst into evil cackles, earning a slap on the back of the head from Ginny.

"Wonder who that is," said Draco, gesturing to the rotting corpse.

"And wonder you may," Annabelle shrieked.

"All right, she's really scaring me," said Draco.

"Just ignore her," said Ginny. "She's just trying to be the centre of attention."

Annabelle shrieked with laughter, and flew to the side of the corpse. She settled herself down beside the body and looked into the decayed face. "My love," she said, her voice extremely strange, as though choked by a thousand demonic possessors. "How I mourn over your tragic loss." And she fell into another fit of cackles.

"She's possessed," said Draco.

Ginny closed her eyes, she couldn't bear to watch Annabelle acting the way she was, it was the most abnormal thing in the world, yet, it seemed so tragically beautiful.

Draco sat down at the bottom of the stair case, and tugged slightly at Ginny's sleeve, prompting her to sit beside him.Â

Ginny opened her eyes and sat down beside Draco, leaning her head on his shoulder, watching Annabelle go insane; she'd now stopped cackling and was rocking back and fourth staring at the corpse.

"I have something I want to ask you," said Draco.

"Hmm?" Ginny murmured.

"Well, Potter's right there," said Draco. "This is your chance, after what? Six years?"

"Seven," Ginny corrected. "Ever since Platform 9 3/4, before his first year."

"Yeah," said Draco. "But now you've just given up. And I feel like it's my fault, and not that I care or anything, but..."

"No," Ginny interrupted. "I like you better."

Draco laughed. "Why?" he asked. "Weren't you raised to hate me?"

"Not really," said Ginny. "I didn't hate you until I met you, and even then it was only because Ron told me to."

"Still, you must've hated me by choice," Draco said. "I mocked you so much."

"Not really," Ginny said again. "You mocked my brothers, and Harry, and Hermione. You only picked on me once in a while, and still, that was about Harry. I stopped taking any notice after about second year."

"How come?"Â asked Draco.

"I met Tom Riddle," said Ginny. "So much better than Harry. And then I figured out that there was someone who was a lot like Tom, and it wasn't Harry."

"Who was it?" Draco asked curiously.

"Er, it was Crabbe," said Ginny. "He's the taller one, right?"

"No, that's Goyle," said Draco. "But he reminded you of Tom Riddle?"

"Yeah, so much power," said Ginny. "And he's so independent."

"No he isn't," said Draco. "He's dependant on me. They both are. I'm more powerful than both of them put together."

"Then maybe it was you who reminded me of Tom," said Ginny. "You know, I think it was you. Powerful, rich Slytherin teacher's pet. That's an exact description of you, isn't it?"

Draco smirked. "Yep," he said. "And you forgot good looking."

"But in second year, I thought you were the most repulsive thing ever," said Ginny. "I don't think I counted looks."

"I'm not taking that as an offence," said Draco. "If you thought Potter was good looking, then you must have had bad taste."

"I wouldn't say that," said Ginny. "Because I still find Harry attractive, but if that means I have bad taste, then you must be rather ugly to one with good taste."

"I'm not ugly to anyone," said Draco. "Even trolls think I'm good looking."

"You're full of yourself," said Ginny. "Tom was a little like that."

"Is that why you gave up on Potter?" Draco asked. "Tom Riddle?"

"Yeah," said Ginny.

"So all these years, Potter was just a cover-up?"Â asked Draco.

"No," said Ginny. "But just yesterday I saw Harry, or someone who looked like him, with Annabelle, who looks like me."

At the sound of her name, Annabelle looked up. "Do the wench speak of me?" she demanded, her voice sounding more evil than it had the last time she had spoke.

"Seriously, what's wrong with her?" Draco asked.

"She's losing her mind," said Ginny. "Completely off her rocker."

Annabelle scowled at them and turned back to the corpse. She had been staring at it silently for the past few minutes, but now, she began to poke at it. "Be my love hungry?" she asked it. "He is being eaten away by the eaters of death, he knew not what I would bring, now slowly decaying, eaten by death, my love is gone, my heart will never again sing."

"What is that? AÂ poem?" asked Draco.

"The eaters of death slay thy life, shall bring pain to thy wife, eaters of death, darkness they bring, silence drowns thy and never shall we sing," Annabelle continued. "Eaters of death have made a deal, and off with them my life be sealed, eaters of death, take me away."

"Shut up," said Draco.

Annabelle turned her head toward him and scowled, but she was quiet, nevertheless.

"As you were saying," said Draco. "You saw Potter with her," he gestured toward Annabelle, "and then what?"

"I saw her with you," said Ginny. "And I must say, you and I look much better together than Harry and I."

"That's shallow," said Draco. "You're going to base your decision on looks?"

"Like I said," said Ginny. "I like you better."