"Finally taking off, Gin?"
The girl in question frowned playfully. "What—don't want me here anymore?"
"Just that you've officially been on duty for—how long was it, Marlene?"
Marlene didn't look up from her magazine, "Thirty-seven hours."
"Thirty-seven hours!" the receptionist continued. "I love you, Gin, but for Merlin's sake—Go home and get some sleep!"
Ginevra Weasley smiled at her friend's concern. "And wouldn't you know it, Andrea, I'm not even tired. Actually I think I'll stop off at the 24/7 for a drink before I go home."
The 24/7 was a bar located just two blocks from St. Mungo's. Its name plainly stated that it was open all day, every day. When it had first opened, many were skeptical of the idea, however, the bar was able to stay in business due to the alcoholics and the St. Mungo's night shift crew that frequented it. Ginny Weasley had been stopping there every morning after work for a straight glass of fire whiskey and a Butterbeer chaser for almost a year, when she had first begun her night shifts as a mediwitch.
"Is someone going with you?" Andrea asked. She frowned when Ginny shook her head no. "You're not walking, are you?"
Ginny rolled her eyes, scoffing at the girl. "It's two blocks! We always used to walk it!"
The blonde's features grew grim. "Times are different now, Ginny, you know that," whether it was conscious or not Ginny didn't know, but her friend's voice dropped dramatically lower as she leaned forward over the counter. "They're everywhere now."
Ginny did know this to be true—how many people had come in after being attacked only blocks from the hospital in the last week alone? Times were different—the Death Eaters were running rampant on the streets, doing whatever they pleased—and why shouldn't they? There was no one to stop them: the Order was losing members left and right (Ginny was beginning to suspect that the secret group wasn't so secret, as the most prominent of their members were being picked off one by one)—even the Ministry, to which everyone was supposed to look for guidance, had fallen apart.
There was no organization, no form of government at all, and, as could be expected, the Wizarding World was in complete and utter chaos. It was, most literally, every man for himself, and everyone seemed to be focusing on that philosophy rather than attempting to unite against Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
It was hitting hard at home as well—Ginny's father rarely slept, her mother was in constant tears of worry for her children, and Harry had about reached the end of his rope. Ginny, after being denied membership to the Order by her parents, was attempting to live as much of a normal life as she could under the circumstances, and succeeding rather well, it seemed. But, of course, as it always is and always will be: all good things must end. It was when and how this would happen that Ginny lost sleep over—no one understood how she could work such insane hours but the answer was obvious: she was an insomniac, plain and simple.
Despite her stubborn and brave personality (thank you, Gryffindor!) Ginny soon found herself losing face in front of her friends. Though she assured them the two block walk would be completely harmless, a dark, foreboding feeling was washing over her—one that she couldn't easily shake. She stepped out into the early morning, taking a deep breath of the crisp, cool air and sighing.
As she began walking she found that, surprisingly, her legs were very sore from her extreme shift. Things like that went unnoticed at work as she was always moving about and taking care of patients. Though her legs were weary, however, Ginny's mind was wide awake (thanks partially to the cool air) despite the very little sleep she was running on.
It was due to her sharp mind that she noticed it right away—a set of footsteps behind her. She knew that there would be a few people out at this time, the next wave of workers for the five to ten shift at the hospital, lingering alcoholics, stumbling out of and around the 24/7; but these footsteps were too precise to be a drunk, and had followed her too far to be any mediwitch or doctor. She didn't even dare to crane her head around to check who it was, because as she was considering doing this, she saw a shadow slipping into the dark alley not fifteen feet in front of her.
It's to be a trap then, Ginny thought, her heart racing. Let them try. She shook her right arm discreetly, causing her wand, which was always attached loosely to her forearm when she was out, to slide down into her hand. Careful to keep it in her robes and out of view, Ginny kept on as if she hadn't even noticed.
She held her breath as she neared the alley, and let it out slowly with relief when nothing happened when she passed it. Five seconds later she realized there were now two sets of footsteps behind her—which wouldn't have been so odd, except for the fact that they were both perfectly in sync with one another. She had been thinking about this and not focusing on the path in front of her, when, as she passed by the next dark alley, a set of hands shot out and took a hold of her.
Ginny, being taken by complete surprise, then did the stupidest thing imaginable: shocked and startled by the set of hands that now had a firm hold on her shoulders, Ginny's body convulsed in surprise, causing her wand to slip out of her hand and clank to the ground, rolling away in the opposite direction.
She had barely started to cry out when she was hit by a Silencing charm and yanked into the alley, just in time to see one of the Death Eaters that had been following her pick up her wand and grin. As the other two assailants followed them into the darkness, Ginny's heart started pumping again, filling her brain with adrenaline. She realized what was happening, and lashed out as hard as she could, struggling to break free of the tight circle they had formed around her.
And it worked—for two seconds. Ginny had somehow managed to wiggle out of the grasp on her shoulders and run into the Death Eater in front of her. Long, silvery blonde hair flowed out of his hood with the wind, and Ginny had just enough time to register that it was Lucius Malfoy who was slamming her against the brick wall.
For the first time in the last forty-eight hours, Ginny felt incredibly tired—but she doubted it had anything to do with the fact that the back of her neck was damp with the blood that was leaving her head.
---OoOoOoO---
"It is her, isn't it?"
"That's the one," someone responded—it sounded like Lucius Malfoy.
What do they want with me? Ginny thought helplessly as their voices floated around inside her black mind. I have nothing to offer them. She tried to ignore the obvious fact that she was a woman, and had very much indeed to offer them—even considering that as an option was making her feel sick. Voices got hazy, and somehow the darkness was swirling in front of her eyes, though she was mostly unconscious.
"Where'd that port-key go to?"
"It's here," a voice responded.
They were getting farther and farther away, though Ginny could vaguely feel arms under her armpits, partially holding her up. Then the world was spinning—quite literally. As Ginny somehow forced her eyes to open just a little, she saw the Death Eaters in focus and the rest of the alley turning to a blur around them.
---OoOoOoO---
She was dreaming. She had to be. Ginny dreamed about waking up quite often, only to have someone attacking her or something bizarre happen. This must be one of those bizarre times, she had reasoned, because when her eyes began to open up slowly, she found Draco Malfoy sitting next to her bed.
She let her eyes drift closed again. I don't even want to know where that one is going, she thought. Okay, Ginny, wake up. Wake up…now. Now! Wake UP!
Ginny opened her eyes once again, looking around blearily. She was in the same room as the one in her dream, but upon looking to the right, she found no Draco Malfoy sitting there. Her head throbbed when she attempted to sit up, and she remembered all to easily that it was so because she'd had it bashed into a brick wall a couple of times by Lucius Malfoy. That's when it connected. That part wasn't a dream. She was taken by Death Eaters—so where was she?
Ginny admitted that she had never been imprisoned, or been in dungeons (other than the classrooms at Hogwarts), so she really didn't know what a prisoner's cell would look like. Despite this, she quickly assumed that it was nothing like the room she occupied. Rooms was really the more appropriate word, because upon looking about Ginny found that there was a bathroom to the left of her bed, and an opening in a sheet that gave way to a larger room on the right. There was a massive wardrobe on the opposite wall of her bed, along with a beautiful vanity and mirror. Craning her head around as much as she could without inducing the throbby feeling again, she could see a glimpse of bookshelves, and what appeared to be a desk through the slight gap in the fabric.
No; this was definitely not a prisoner's cell—so what was it? Wasn't Ginny the captive here? She pondered that perhaps the dungeons were full up and there was no place else to put her, but dismissed that idea quickly. If that had been the case, they would have made room, stuck her with someone else, or simply chained her up outside somewhere, likely in a forest where werewolves or creatures of the like resided.
She forced herself to sit up, trying to shake off the headache (literally and only making it worse in the process). She was working on getting her limbs to move correctly so she could get out of bed (for, after having a brief "nap" after such a long shift, she found herself incredibly tired and groggy), when a pair of footsteps caught her attention. Before she could even think to react, she was looking up at Lucius Malfoy once again. She noticed that his son was with him as well, and began wondering distantly if it hadn't been a dream that he was sitting next to her bed—there was a chair there, she noticed upon inspection.
Her brain slowly began to unfreeze when he spoke, though it still didn't seem to comprehend his words very well.
"What?" she found herself asking, confused and lost.
Malfoy Sr. took a deep breath (attempting to draw patience, it seemed, and failing) and repeated himself. "The Master wishes to see you."
She caught eyes with Malfoy—Malfoy Jr.—and found a strange look in them. The contempt for her was still there, she'd noticed right away, but there was something else lingering in his look also…surprise, it seemed. It looked as if he were attempting to look bored with the happenings but failing—something had severely caught his interest, and Ginny wondered what it could be. Did he know why she was here?
When the words finally clicked in her brain, she found herself asking, "Why?" a split-second later.
Lucius seemed to grow even more impatient, while Draco seemed slightly amused. Without waiting for his reply (which she assumed would be a sharp one), Ginny swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood. It took her a moment to find her balance, but she followed Lucius straight away, stumbling a bit at first, because the moment she had stood he had turned around and began walking away.
She didn't have time to look over the front room, or any of the books on the numerous bookcases, though she wished she did. Instead, she followed Lucius Malfoy out into what appeared to be the middle of a campsite—white tents surrounded her in every direction. Draco took off in the opposite direction, and she wondered vaguely where he was going before turning her attention back to her surroundings.
The white of all of the tents in the blazing sun would have been enough to blind Ginny, if it hadn't been for the striking contrast of all the black robes that were milling about.
Not just milling about, Ginny realized, but watching her. All of them, stopping whatever they were doing and watching her. Ginny could have screamed—she hated not being in loop. She felt completely awkward walking around the enemy's camp as they all stared--Ginny wasn't the most graceful person in her family, and the more people looked at her the more likely she was to trip and fall on her face.
Thud. Whoops. She knew she shouldn't have let that thought enter her mind--she was constantly jinxing herself like that. Ginny stood, glared at the divet in the earth that had caused her to lose her stepping, and continued after Lucius quickly--whether he had noticed or not didn't seem apparant, because either way he hadn't stopped or slowed.
Odd thing was, Ginny didn't hear anyone laughing at her. Glancing about discreetly she studied their faces: they did all look amused, but no one made it obvious that they had witnessed anything at all, which was very unsettling to her; her stomach gave a little twist and her heart started pumping faster. What is going on here?
After a few minutes (and a large number of Death Eaters later), Lucius came to a stop at one of the larger tents. It seemed to be in the exact center of the little campsite they had set up. Lucius slipped inside, muttered something and returned, motioning Ginny inside.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Ginny stepped through the opening. This is it, she thought. Maybe I'll get a few answers before I die.
What she didn't realize, as she stood facing the most evil wizard alive, was that she would indeed recieve them, but Ginny wouldn't like or believe any of Voldemort's answers.
---OoOoOoO---
Ahh, brilliance has struck again! Don't worry though, I will definitely be continuing Her Back to the Wall!
Please let me know--and do take a few stabs at where this is going--virtual cookies to the closest person!