Disclaimer: Anything you recognise isn’t mine.

Warning: Though this story will contain no sexually explicit material, there will be graphic violence that may offend some people. I will be leaving the rating at PG13, but if any of you feel that it needs to be made higher, I will increase the rating.

A/n: I’m really sorry to have to do this AGAIN, but I suppose that is what I get for trying to write an incredibly difficult storyline. Once again I am starting this story (for the third time now?) and I am very sorry, but there were just so many things that were confusing even me, so now it is MUCH simpler, and therefore will be easier to write. I’m probably just as annoyed about this as you are, but I am sorry.

This chapter is short because it is a sort of prologue. Hope you enjoy it, and this time I promise I will get it right >_<

(oh yeah, for those of you who don’t know, this is the sequel to “Where Two Paths Meet”.  Read that first before you read this, though I can understand if you don’t want to. I read it myself the other day and cringed the whole way. Man am I glad my writing developed for the better (and I got better at spotting typos too, lol).

Anyway, enough of my blabbing and onto the chapter….

…We have all seen the signs that point to magic declining. Spells are weakening, and even our own magical abilities are being sapped, but researchers have been unable to pinpoint as to what is causing magic to decline. Could this be the reason for the increase in Squibs? Are we indeed coming to the end of the magical world? Some would suggest…

Ginny placed the Daily Prophet down on the little wooden desk and sighed. Tiredly she wiped at her eyes and stared out the misty window. She could see the autumn, burnt leaves desperately clinging to the trees as winter’s chill crept in to blow them away. The sound of the waves could be heard crashing against the shore in the distance, and as she looked up, she could see the black storm clouds stretching their fingers over the sky to block out the pale, autumn sun. It was going to be a rough night tonight.

Hugging her robe to her petite body, Ginny stood up and walked over to the small kitchen that was connected to her living room. She picked up the cup of hot chocolate, watching as the steam swirled into the cold air like a wispy snake. Shivering slightly, Ginny blew on the hot drink and took a small sip. More than anything she wished she could conjure a fire, but she wasn’t sure if she could risk it. Merlin knew what horrible effects would happen after the strange magic decline- more than once she had had a nasty effect thanks to a spell going wrong, and so no longer bothered to carry her wand. She had in effect become a muggle, and by the way things were going it didn’t seem like her magic would be coming back anytime soon.

Sighing to herself, Ginny sipped her drink and gazed about the tidy house. It was cosy, quite small, but it suited her for now. She had wanted to get away from all the hustle and bustle from town, and with the help of a few dear friends, she was able to get this house. Sometimes she missed being able to visit her friends whenever she liked, but the peace and quiet was a nice change. It felt good to be away from all the memories; memories that even now hurt her…

Four years ago Ginny had helped stop the most evil wizard of their time. Voldemort had been defeated, and the Wizarding World had once again become a place of hope and new life. Ginny had thought it was too good to be true, and she had been right. About a year after Voldemort’s defeat, it had become apparent that there was an increase in the amount of Squibs being born. Certain magical barriers had begun to weaken, and even spells were less powerful. Three years from then, no magical children were being born and not a single spell could be trusted. Magic was dying, and Ginny feared that something sinister was at hand, though she, just like everyone else, was at a loss of what to do about it. The world they knew was crumbling, and hope seemed such a fragile thing.

A knock sounded at the door breaking her silent musings, and smiling to herself, Ginny placed her cup down on the bench and walked over to the door, knowing already who her guest was. Opening the door, her eyes fell on the familiar woman with bushy, brown hair and warm, honey-brown eyes.

“Hermione,” Ginny exclaimed happily, pulling her friend into a hug. She chuckled slightly and tapped Hermione’s swollen stomach. “It’s getting hard to hug you with this baby taking all the room.”

Hermione laughed as they broke away, her eyes drifting down to her stomach with a fond smile. “Yeah, only a few more months to go too. I think Harry is more excited than I am though.”

Ginny smiled and led Hermione into the house, closing the door behind them to shut out the chilly wind. “Do you want something to drink?”

Hermione shook her head, taking a seat on one of the cosy seats; her eyes automatically following Ginny as she took her drink back off the bench and sat down on the seat opposite. “So how have you been? I heard you quit your job,” she said in a conversational voice, her eyes betraying the concern she felt.

Ginny inwardly sighed. She had found it difficult to move on since the end of the war, going from one job to the next, from one town to another. Not only had she lost many dear friends, but also someone very important to her had gone missing that day. She refused to believe he was dead, and perhaps it was that which stopped her from fully moving on. She was constantly waiting for the day when she would catch a glimpse of him or hear a whisper of his name, but nothing had been seen or heard of him for four years. Many people believed him to be dead, but she just couldn’t accept it. He was out there somewhere; she just knew it.

Shaking her head slightly, Ginny smiled at Hermione. “It’s nothing. I just needed a change; that’s all.”

Hermione frowned but said nothing, merely giving a single nod. Ginny was glad that Hermione did not push the conversation and inwardly sighed with relief. The last thing she needed was an interrogation hour. They were already worried about her enough as it was.

“So, when are Ron and Harry going to come around?” Ginny asked as she settled herself more comfortably on the chair. “I’ve been trying to decide what to make for dinner, but it will help if I know how long I’ve got.”

Hermione smiled, rubbing her stomach fondly. “I think they said they’ll be here in a couple of hours. I told Ron he should bring his girlfriend along too, but he said he didn’t want to cause any inconvenience on your part.”

Ginny grinned. “So they are dating now then?”

Hermione nodded, laughing lightly. “Oh yes, he finally got the courage to ask her out, even though we all knew how madly in love they were with each other.”

Ginny smiled to herself, her eyes gazing past Hermione to stare out the window again at the storm clouds. Something shifted in the swirling grey that seemed too large and substantial to be a cloud. She frowned slightly, her eyes narrowing, wondering what it could possibly be.

“Ginny? What are you staring at?”

Ginny looked at Hermione with a blank expression, not really hearing her, and then looked back out the window. There was nothing there, just the same dark clouds. She frowned again to herself, not really wanting to think about what that dark object had been. She had probably imagined it anyway.

“It’s nothing,” she replied, turning back to her friend. “I think I’m just tired or something; it’s been a rough day.”

Hermione nodded sympathetically and looked at her with a kindly expression, honey-brown eyes softening in that soothing way they always did. “How about you go have a lie down, and I’ll get this dinner started.”

“Oh no, Hermione, you can’t-“ Ginny began, but fell silent at Hermione’s firm expression. If there was one thing Ginny knew about her friend, it was not to disagree with her. Hermione had the uncanny ability to make people do what she said, but Ginny knew it was more to do with the fact that she would nag until people finally gave in. Still, she did not feel like arguing today. She really was not feeling the best. It was the day he had gone missing after all, and that always left her feeling tired and upset. Though four years had passed, she had not forgotten the day, and nor had she forgotten him. She would never forget him…

“I’m sure I can handle cooking a simple dinner, Ginny,” Hermione said with a laugh. “You look worn out, and I’m sure you want to have some energy to greet the others. Just leave this to me.”

“Thanks, Hermione,” Ginny said with an appreciative smile and stood up, placing her empty cup on the bench.

Hermione nodded and gave her a small push towards the door. “You just take all the time you like; I’ll have things ready in no time.”

Smiling and nodding, Ginny opened the door to her room and walked in, closing it behind her and letting out a deep sigh as she leaned against the cold, wood. She gazed about the small, tidy room, seeing the portraits of her family and friends waving at her from the dressing table, all oblivious to the painful memories now seeping through her like a cold chill. In her mind she could see herself kneeling on that rugged hill, staring with tears in her eyes at the spot where he had vanished. The sword that he had wielded to save them had also taken him, and though she had returned to that spot many times in the hopes of seeing him again, he had never come back to her.

She sighed and started to walk towards the bed in the hopes of getting some sleep, when suddenly a strange buzzing noise echoed in her brain. It was almost painful, and she held a hand to her head, gasping slightly as the buzzing increased. Black dots swarmed before her eyes, blurring her vision, and as she took a step forward, Ginny found herself falling speedily towards the wooden floor in a sickening rush. Her eyes closed, her brain drifting into a familiar sensation she had not felt in years, all thought and feeling slipping away as darkness enfolded her…

Ginny stood up from the ground, gazing about the misty room with a frown on her lips. Everything seemed blurred with dark shadows, as if a forceful wind was pushing at the very fabric of the world, distorting it into a wispy blackness. There seemed to be no real light at all, and as she looked up into the sky she could see a black moon in a dark grey sky, not a single star to give light to the dark and depressing place. It seemed strange that she could see at all, but there was a sort of shadowy glow that gave vision, almost as if the place was in a constant state of twilight.

Walking ahead, she gazed about the spine-tingling place, feeling every hair on her body prickling in unease. There was something about this world that just didn’t seem right. She had no idea where she was, but she knew it was not her world wherever it was.

 Something shifted in front of her, and Ginny froze in fear, watching with her heart beating furiously as something came towards her from the shadows. It was a man, tall and wiry with shoulder-length blond hair and deathly pale skin. In his hand he held a broken sword, the snarling black dragon hilt clutched desperately in his fingers, the crimson blade cutting short into jagged teeth where it had snapped in half. He stumbled slightly, gasping for breath as he collapsed to one knee. Black Mist started swarming towards him, and Ginny watched in horror as the shadows started covering his body so she could see nothing but a black outline. The man screamed and lashed out with the sword, the shadows falling to dust around him as the broken blade connected with the strange creatures. He stood up again and made his slow progress towards her, his piercing grey eyes gazing directly at her, except he wasn’t meeting Ginny’s gaze at all. He was staring at something beyond her, and as Ginny turned her face she was surprised to see a giant castle stretching high into the dusky sky in the distance.

“I see you’re still alive…” His eyes lit up with an amused smile. “And you even found your old sword- or what’s left of it anyway.”

The man stopped in his tracks, and Ginny could see a new figure emerging from the darkness. This one had silver hair and mercury eyes, wearing his dark black cloak that deceitfully melted into the shadows surrounding him, only making him look more illusionary as his body flickered with the non-existent wind.

“If you’ve come here to mock me you can save it,” The blond man snapped. “I don’t have time for you.”

“What are you talking about? In this world there is no such thing as time. You have all the time in the world.”

Ginny saw his grey eyes narrow angrily, his hand gripping the sword tighter. “I’m not talking about myself, though you wouldn’t care if everyone beyond the barrier is dying.”

The silver haired man smiled wickedly. “You’re right, I don’t. I’m quite proud of my handy-work actually. It’s sure to bring Kashera running.”

“And what will you do then? You have no body, no magic, no weapon... You’re no better than the scuttling shadows that fester in this place.”

He shrugged, apparently unconcerned. “You’re right. I am no more than a wisp of shadow just like the rest of them, but I still managed to break the barrier and kill all the guardians to release the seal on my queen’s prison. For that I am satisfied, and now Kashera will have no choice but to come from her hiding place to set things right.”

“Whatever you’re planning won’t work. Kashera defeated your queen once, and she’ll do it again.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Evil never wins, Loki. I would have thought you’d realised that by now after living for tens of thousands of years.”

Loki’s smile sent chills down Ginny’s spine, the pure delight in it just completely wrong in his cold face. “Ah, see now that’s where you’re wrong. In this world evil is all that exists...”

“Ginny! Ginny, are you alright?”

Ginny sat up groggily, gasping slightly as she touched her head where a large bump was throbbing. She looked around and noticed Harry, Hermione, and Ron all staring at her with identical expressions of concern. She felt sick, like she was about to vomit, and there was a loud ringing in her head that would not go away. She knew she was supposed to be remembering something, only she couldn’t remember what. Something about a dream…no… a vision…

“You fainted,” Hermione said gently, her honey-brown eyes frowning slightly. “Gave me quite a fright actually.”

Ginny ignored them all, her mouth descending into a frown and her eyes gazing hard at the ground as she tried to remember the details of her vision, for she knew it was a vision. The place had been so strange, so dark and mysterious, and there was that man with the silver hair and mercury eyes… and someone else, but who?

“Ginny?”

“I’m sorry,” Ginny said in a distant voice, still trying to remember what her vision had been about. It felt like she was trying to hold water in her hands, the details slipping through the cracks in her fingers just as desperately as she tried to hold it together. “I just-” She gasped suddenly, as she realised who she had seen in her vision. It was Draco. There was no way it could have been anyone else. She had seen Draco, but she did not recognise the place where he was at all. Tears sprang to her eyes, a small smile coming to her lips as she realised she had finally found him. This was no dream where he was coming back to her; this was a vision, and that could only mean he was alive…

“Why are you crying?” Ron asked in surprise, watching her warily through his blue eyes.

Ginny brought her tear-filled chestnut eyes to his, a broad smile on her face. “He’s alive, Ron,” she said with a watery laugh, her heart feeling like it was about to burst with joy. “He’s alive.”