Chapter One

"I've not seen him all summer," Ginny lied defiantly as she struggled not to swear at or jinx the Ministry of Magic employee who had forced her into her own bedroom and who now stood in front of the door, wand at the ready, blocking her escape. "Not since the Hogwarts Express."

The tall, heavy-set man stared intently at her, but Ginny was sure he didn't have the skill to perform Occlumency. He was, as she had known from the first second he had grabbed her wand arm, no more than a common thug. A thug who had been legitimised by the new Ministry regime, but a thug nonetheless. "Have you had any form of contact with Harry Potter?" he tried, an impatient bite to his tone. "And don't you dare try lying to me, girl, I'll know if you do."

How stupid did he think she was? "Nothing," she said strongly, tossing her flaming red hair back over her shoulder because it was ticking her collarbone. Would he dare try to hurt her? Ginny thought she would be able to stop him, but not without doing magic, and that would cause her a whole new set of problems. The last thing she needed was to be disciplined by the Ministry for breaking the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery.

"Not a very good boyfriend, then, is he?" the man asked, and Ginny couldn't help but feel a flash of annoyance even though she knew it was exactly what he wanted.

"He's not my boyfriend. We broke up. I've not seen him since school. I've not heard from him since school," she reiterated, hoping that he would take this information back to the Ministry.

"What about the Mu- I mean, the girl Granger, then?" the thug asked. This time, Ginny suspected that he wasn't trying to make her angry by nearly using a very rude word to describe one of her best friends. She thought it was probably a genuine slip of the tongue and that the Ministry employee simply thought of Muggle-borns that way.

"Nothing from her, either," Ginny lied again. "Probably hiding, you're not treating Mudbloods very well, are you?" The word tasted dirty in her mouth, but a small part of her knew that she hadn't meant it in a derogatory fashion. She hoped that the brute would think that she was proud of her pure-blood status, and at the very least she wanted him to know that she had noticed his mistake.

The thug didn't answer her question. Ginny wondered idly if he was a Death Eater, somebody who agreed with most of Voldemort's actions or just a coward who simply didn't dare disagree with Voldemort controlling the Ministry. From what she had seen so far, she suspected he was a willing participant in the terrorisation of witches, wizards and Muggles all over the country.

"I've not seen or spoken to anybody but my family and the wedding guests since Hogwarts," Ginny told him again. This much, at least, was true, although the guest list had included many people whom the Ministry would have liked to interrogate and who had barely fled in time to avoid capture. She put an emphasis on the word 'wedding,' but didn't think it would make any difference. This man would feel no remorse for interrupting Bill and Fleur's celebrations; instead, for a brief moment he looked up and down her dress, plainly appraising what was underneath.

The man Ginny suspected of being a Death Eater returned his gaze to her face and scowled, but didn't disagree with her answer. She swore to herself that she would thank Fred and George later for teaching her, if only by example, to lie convincingly, and looked directly into the man's eyes. "Anything else?" she asked him, and she worked very hard to keep the challenge out of her tone. As much as it would feel good to antagonise him, it couldn't end well.

"No," he told her grudgingly, and at the same time Ginny heard footsteps in the hall outside. Heavy footsteps, not belonging to anyone she knew. Her questioner stepped out to join his companion without a backward glance and she hesitated only a moment to check that her wand was still securely stowed down the front of her dress before following him.

It seemed that most of the Death Eaters and their companions had finished their interrogations. As Ginny passed a window she saw a small group of them standing in the yard, clearly waiting for the two who were currently on their way downstairs. Hearing footsteps on the stairs above, Ginny turned sharply, but it was the twins. She paused a moment, waiting for them to reach her, then without a word the three carried on downstairs. They found the rest of the family in the living room, accompanied by the members of the wedding party who had not been able to Disapparate in time to avoid capture.

Ginny took a good look around as she joined everybody else. There were plenty of cuts and bruises, and the odd mark here and there left by a hex, but it didn't seem like anybody was permanently cursed or injured. She saw pale faces and knew that her own must look just as white, other than the angry red flush she could feel heating her cheeks. Searching for her parents, she returned her mother's terrified look with what she hoped was a reassuring one, but didn't speak.

It appeared that everyone had gathered in the living room, with the obvious exception of Bill and Fleur. Ginny wasn't sure which of their guests had managed to leave, but was fairly certain that all those who had been captured had also been released. She waited in silence, but only had to endure a few minutes of this, which in its own way was worse than being interrogated, before Bill and Fleur joined them from the kitchen.

All eyes turned to the group of Death Eaters and Ministry employees in the yard, hoping that they had completed the work they had come to do. Sure enough, when joined by the pair who had just finished with Bill and Fleur, the group Disapparated with a popping noise that Ginny heard clearly through the glass of the window.