Gone Twisted

Without him noticing, she was watching his far away eyes intently. He was remembering something. She itched to know what he was thinking about, and it would be so easy to figure out. A small part of intend and a sparkle of magic and she would be in his mind, seeing what he was seeing.

"Penny for your thoughts," she said instead, not wanting to invade his privacy and steal his memories like a vulture.

Visibly snapping out of his memories, he looked at her wide eyed. "Nothing," he lied, shaking his head a bit, "I - I just remembered something."

"Tell me!" she said with a small giggle, as the pain from the now healing wounds lessened.

"No really, it's nothing you should concern yourself with," he said, a fake smile disgracing his features.

Ash frowned, as she pulled herself of the ground and sent the houseelf away. "If you say so," she said biting her cheeks. To her further dismay, she figured that she wouldn't be able to get a wash today as she looked at the bandages that were covering her body. "You want to take the water? I don't think it would be wise to make the bandages wet," she said with a forced smile and watched him nod.

Nodding herself, she left the bathroom and closed the door behind herself, leaving Draco alone.

Once the door was closed, she leaned against its flat surface and closed her eyes, concentrating on her breathing. Was it just her, or was Draco's behaviour just now a bit weird? she wondered softly as she pushed herself off the door and slowly walked up to the wardrobe.

As she put on her silken nightgown, she shook her head at her small paranoia, and decided to go to sleep before Draco came out of the bath.



Whatever test Voldemort had tested her with, it seemed that she had passed with ease. After that fateful night, Ash finally felt accepted as a Death Eater once more.

Time passed swiftly, as Ash was finally regaining control of her former jobs. Being put in charge of the teenage Death Eaters once again, regaining control of the "Internal Affairs" section of the Death Eaters and going on missions with her fellow Death Eaters around twice a week.

Ash was currently sitting in her office, enjoying a sandwich - chicken, with mayonnaise and sweetcorn - when screams echoing through the hallways disturbed her peace.

"Let go of me you son's of Crumple-Horned Snorkack's!" a girl screamed loudly.

"Crumple-Horned Snorkack's?" she asked Draco, who was sitting in front of her. She noticed confusion in his eyes, until a sudden realisation crossed his features.

"Don't ask me, never heard of those beasts," Draco said with a shrug.

Shrugging, Ash found herself curious about who was screaming names of imaginary creatures, but stayed put. She didn't have to go anywhere, because soon after her study door was flung open and Ash watched Goyle and Crabbe senior holding onto a petite girl with waist-length, dirty blond hair.

"What is the meaning of this?" she boomed at the two of them, not caring that they were her seniors. They had intruded her study, during her break! She made a mental note to punish them later.

The two of them swiftly stood still and stared at her in shock. "Miss. Grunt!" one of them gasped, "I'm sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you!" the other one said quickly, but Ash ignored them. Her attention was captured by the girl in their middle and her protuberant grey eyes that were staring at her with the same amount of curiosity.

"Who is she?" Ash asked with a swift glance at Crabbe - or was it Goyle?

"Luna Lovegood, ma'am."

"Ah, the girl from the Quibbler," she purred softly, remembering that she had told the two idiots to get the girl. "That's right," she smiled and motioned for the two of them to let go of her. "Welcome, please sit down."

While Luna looked at her in what seemed to be fascination, Ash noticed Draco's breathing increase and him pulling on his collar.

"Do you know why you are here?" Ash asked Luna, sitting back down on her comfortable leather chair, toying with the wand that was lying on the table.

"It really is you? Isn't it?"

Ash looked at her confused. "I'm the one asking the questions!"

"We thought you were dead, you know? Or in one of those stinking cells of these stinking Death Eaters! It doesn't stink here, so this isn't a cell. I don't like cells as you know. where am I here?" she began and didn't stop... "Ron and-" she continued but was forced to stop when Draco stupefied her, with a hasty flick of the wrist, making the girl go stiff.

"Sorry, I couldn't take it any more," he said, swallowing hard. Looking at her fiancée in confusion, Ash ignored the gut feeling that what she had been about to say would have been important to her, and flicked her own wand to open the door. In came Goyle and Crabbe.

"Throw the girl into the big cell," she ordered, still not looking away from Draco.

When they had left, Ash asked, "What was that about?"

"Sorry, the girl had been talking nonsense for nearly an hour, I couldn't listen any more!" he defended himself. "Also," he said getting off his chair and walking up to her, "We get to spend less and less time together, I wanted you all to myself right now." Extending his arm for her, he pulled her off the chair and into his arms, kissing her passionately and making her forget everything that just happened, if only for a couple of minutes.



"Show me!" she whined jokingly, holding onto Draco's waist while trying to peak over his shoulder to see what he was trying to hide from her.

"It's nothing!" he said, annoyance slowly creeping into his voice.

"Oh come on! If its nothing, you wouldn't be hiding it!" she sang, ignoring his tone of voice.

They had been sitting in the Dark Lord's office in silence, reading books and trying to learn a couple of new spells while he was gone, when Ash saw Draco's eyes going wide while looking at the floor. When she had curiously turned to look where he looked, he launched out of his seat and dropped on the floor, scrambling something off the ground and trying to hide it swiftly.

When he didn't show her after a few minutes of nagging, Ash became annoyed as well. "Draco Malfoy, show me what you've got there right away!" she said in her authority voice that made everyone around her cringe.

"I'd rather not," he said slowly, also slightly annoyed at her persistence.

Not used to hearing anyone - not even Draco - object her authority voice, Ash got out her wand and muttered "accio." Before Draco could even say "No!" the object was in her hand.

Curious, she looked at the object. It was a ring, a very simple ring, thin and with a Moonstone set in the middle of it. "Wow, it beautiful..." she said softly, turning to look at Draco.

His face was red in what seemed to be pain. "Why do you think it was lying on the floor?" she said, focussing fully on the ring. It felt so familiar, so reassuring in a way... as if it belonged to her.

Suddenly she heard Draco sigh, and when she looked up he gave her one of his famous smirks. "Marry Christmas Ash," he said and made her look up at him. "I had it in my pocket and it must have fallen out," he said with a small shrug.

"That... that is my Christmas Present?" she asked, wide-eyed. Draco nodded and smiled at her as she flung her body in his direction.

"Thank you!" she whispered into his ear and hugged him tightly. But even in her happiness, she noticed that his returning hug was very weak and even felt and heard the panicked swallow that accompanied her embrace. However, when she pulled back his face was once again smiling down at her lovingly.

"I'm happy that you like it," he said softly and kissed her on the lips lovingly. "But now I have to find another Christmas Present for you!" he seemed to scrawl at the idea of having to find something else in less then three days time...

Watching Draco disappear out of the study, Ash wondered if she had only imagined the panicked swallow. But while looking at the ring, she knew that she hadn't imagined anything.



A couple days later, Ash was sitting on her bed. It was late, Draco was already sleeping soundly next to her, but she couldn't. She was staring his peaceful sleeping face, before focusing on the ring that decorated her ring finger. Something was up with Draco. Ever since she came back from her first mission, he had been acting weird, as if he were scared of her finding out something. What could it be? she asked herself and turned the ring on her finger.

"I love you" she called towards him, but Draco had already vanished back into the crowed...

Ash looked around herself in confusion, before shaking her head furiously.

There was Draco... in his bed... naked... under him lay Pansy Parkinson, also dressed in only her birthday suit.

Again Ash shook her head. What was happening? What where these pictures doing in her head?

A face. High cheekbones, dark skin, and lips that yelled "Kiss me" stared up at her with sorrow in the long, chocolate coloured slanting eyes.

Ash closed her eyes tightly.

"It has special powers," some ladies voice echoed through her head. "It'll show you all that's hidden and lead you through the hard times in life," the lady continued and softly giggled in her ears.

Ash pulled off the ring desperately and threw it across the room, panting.

"Honey, everything OK?" a sleepy velvet voice asked from next to her.

Quickly she looked at the boy lying there and nodded. "Yeah, everything is good. Just had a bad dream," she said and let her body fall back into the soft cushions. Turning to her side, she felt a warm arm drape around her waist and pull her close to the body behind her.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Draco said sleepily and soon returned to dreamland.

"Will you?" she asked, eyes wide. The images burned into her mind.