A/N: Another drabble/oneshot collection ;). This one will be strictly Draco/Ginny and will continue for as long as I last in the So You Think You Can Write Competition on the wonderful HPFC forums.

This particular entry is AU and depicts a scene from a battle in an unnamed location. The characters are a bit older in this story – mid-twenties.

Prompts: Counting Stars ; Surrender

Word Count: 796

It was easy for him to take away her control. Though she had been fighting up until that point, vehemently refusing to surrender to him throughout the rest of the battle, it took only a split second before she had nothing. Her hands and feet were bound together as she remained tied to a tree, slightly elevated above ground level. Though she tried to wiggle free, to combat her tight restraints, she couldn't keep her thoughts away from what was going on in the distance.

"Is this how your sort wins, Malfoy?" she spat, eying him fiercely. "You tie up innocent girls to trees?"

Draco hadn't been looking at her until that point, but his eyes darted to latch with hers in an instant. "Once again, Weasley, you have managed to prove that you know absolutely nothing."

She continued to struggle, but the fact that her feet were not on solid ground greatly diminished any change she had of being able to release herself. Nevertheless, Ginny was resilient; she wouldn't give up trying to escape for as long as she was alive.

"If I were you, I'd stop squirming and save my energy," he told her coolly as he sat down on the ground before her. His knees were up and his arms were wrapped around them for support. "You're not going to be able to get down like that."

Her silly Gryffindor bravery tuned him out. "I'd never surrender to your lot, Malfoy," the redhead hissed. She could feel the tightness of the ropes digging into her wrists and she could hear the sounds of battle raging in the distance. Even if she could escape, there was no guarantee that she'd make any sort of difference, but that didn't matter to her. All she knew was that her family was out there, every one of them, fighting for their lives and their freedom. But not her. She had been stupid enough to be drawn away from the battle by Draco Malfoy, to let down her guard just enough so that he would be able to overpower her. It was her own fault, her own stupidity. "Why won't you just let me go?"

The blond lifted an eyebrow at her question. "You're even more stupid than I thought if you really have to ask that question."

Ginny spent the next few minutes, twisting and struggling and turning, willing to try anything to just get down from that bloody tree, but her attempts were fruitless. Unbidden, a loud cry of defeat escaped from her lips and she hung her head low, her chin almost reaching her chest. Involuntary tears of being conquered by someone she hated began flowing gently down her dirt-stained cheek.

"Stop it, Weasley," Draco said, his voice quiet. "Crying isn't going to get you anywhere with me."

She sniffed slightly, looking up into the black abyss. There were so few stars in the sky that she was able to count them. Twenty-three. She sent up twenty three wishes – prayers - to twenty-three different stars, hoping that someone, somewhere, could help her to get out of the mess that she had got herself into. It had been stupid of her to have been where she was, to attempt to fight one of the fiercest and most loyal Death Eaters while expecting to arise as the victor. Ginny realized at that moment that she had never stood a chance.

"What's going to happen to me?" Ginny asked, her voice surprisingly even and calm despite her heartbreaking revelation. "Are you – are you going to kill me?"

Malfoy stared at her, his piercing grey eyes locking with hers for so long that Ginny began to think she would not receive an answer from him. His expression softened significantly as they searched each other, both wanting and needing to know how the other was feeling. "If I was going to kill you," Draco began, his voice soft, "I'd have done it already."

Ginny released an involuntary breath of relief. "So – so, what happens now?"

"I don't know."

"But you won't – you're not going to let me die?"

He lifted an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"When you… brought me back here, to this clearing, did you – did you do it to save me?"

For another long moment, they stared at each other. "Don't read into what I'm doing, Weasley," he muttered, drawing his eyes away from her and into the distance, the sounds of battle suddenly becoming louder and louder than ever.

She closed her eyes gently. "You saved me," she reiterated. "Again."

Draco stood, brushing the dirt off his jeans as he pointed his wand at Ginny. In a second, she was unbound, twisting and flexing her aching wrists. He began to walk away. "Don't make me regret it."