Title: Of Nightly Break-Ins and Stolen Kisses

Author: drakenleigh

Rating: Not Naughty

Warnings: Slightly AU

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Notes: None

Summary: Ginny decides to break into Malfoy Manor and steal something of great importance, but what she doesn't count on is getting caught.

Of Nightly Break-Ins and Stolen Kisses

By: drakenleigh

Ginny ducked into the shadows while a masked Death Eater passed her by. She knew it was risky to break into Malfoy Manor to steal the last Horcrux, but she wasn't going to sit back and wait for Harry to return from Merlin-knows-where to take care of it. That morning, the Order had received a tip that the Horcrux was at the manor, but the informant did not know how long it would be there.

This was how Ginny found herself dressed all in black, hiding in the shadows on the second floor of Malfoy Manor. The informant had said that it would be in Malfoy's study, which was the third door on the right. Ginny continued down the dark passageway, silently counting doorways as she made her way to the room. One… two… She stopped in front of the third.

She hesitated as she reached for the handle, preparing herself for the fight that she knew was about to ensue. As she opened the door, she was surprised to find the room completely empty. This was way too easy, she thought with unease. She looked around with her wand at the ready and walked to a desk. There it sat–Helga Hufflepuff's cup–in all its golden glory, one of the few last remaining pieces of Voldemort's soul. As she picked the goblet up all hell broke loose.

Alarms rang loud and clear throughout the entire manor and voices began shouting orders to search the grounds. Panicking, Ginny ran through the door and to the right, only to find herself at a dead end and quickly being cornered. Not seeing a way out, she prepared herself; she was not giving up without a fight. She began firing off hexes as the Death Eaters came into sight, but five Death Eaters later she found herself flat on the ground in a full body bind. Her pulse began to race as one of them snapped her wand in two. She just started to realize how stupid it was for her to have come.

"What is the meaning of this? Move out of the way!" Lucius Malfoy yelled as he pushed his way through the crowd of Death Eaters.

"Well, if it isn't the girl Weasley, and all alone too; how brave," Lucius spoke slowly. He spotted what was left of Ginny's wand, and reached down, picking it up. "I'd better take this." He turned to Draco. "She is all yours; do with her what you will, but do not kill her; she is more valuable alive."

"Yes, father, thank you," Draco answered as he levitated Ginny's body towards his chambers.

Ginny wanted to cry but the Body Bind spell prevented her from doing so. Her heart raced as she thought of all the horrible things that lay in store for her; if only she had waited none of this would have happened. The last thing she remembered before she blacked out was the sound of a curse.

Ginny woke to find herself in a lavishly decorated room. Her bed had to have been the most comfortable thing she had ever slept in. The sheets were made of satin and were the most beautiful shade of silver she had ever seen. Her bedspread matched the wall with a shimmery blue. She had one window, which showed a beautiful scene of a garden. Ginny continued to lie in the bed, trying to place where she was when it all came back to her. She jumped up and ran to the window, only to find it was enchanted. Looking around for an exit, she spotted a door, but was angered to find that it led to a bathroom. Not knowing what else to do, Ginny plopped down on the bed with a frustrated sigh.

Ginny froze as she heard a door open. She did not dare move; if her plan was going to work he had to think she was asleep. The element of surprise was the only thing she had in her favor.

Draco pulled his wand out, expecting an attack, and was quite surprised when none came. He found Ginny asleep on the bed with her back to him. Taking the chance while he had it, Draco admired the woman in front of him. She had beautiful, creamy skin with just a light dust of freckles across her nose, upper arms and chest. She had tantalizingly long legs and the most interesting shade of dark red hair he had ever seen. He could not deny that the tight, black little number she had on was truly sexy.

Shaking the thoughts away, he reached down and shook her, but received no response. He shook her again – a little harder this time – and tried her calling her name. Still nothing. Getting worried, Draco shook her rather hard and yelled, "WEASLEY, WAKE UP!"

Ginny stretched with a catlike grace enjoying the feel of the cool sheets beneath her. She rolled onto her side and locked eyes with Draco; if she wasn't mistaken that was a hint of worry and lust she had just caught in his eyes. Springing into action, Ginny reached up and pushed Draco with all her might, causing him to fall off the bed.

"What was that for?!" he yelled as he stood up, dusting imaginary lint off his robes.

"I did exactly what you said to do, so why was I caught?" Ginny asked glaring at him.

"You were not supposed to break in like some Muggle burglar! Potter and his "gang" were supposed to steal it – not you! I owled Potter the spell to deactivate the wards set around the bloody thing last night, so why didn't he come?"

Ginny began looking sheepish. "Well, see, here's the thing: Harry never got the tip. He, Ron, and Hermione were not there so I… well I…."

Draco cut in. "You decided to break into a manor full of Death Eaters all by yourself to steal the remaining piece of the Dark Lord's soul?"

"Something like that…" Ginny said with a nervous smile.

"Did it ever cross your mind that you could get caught, or worse, killed. At least you could have gotten some help!"

"Erm, no I guess it didn't. I'm sorry, Draco; I know I risked your cover, so can you forgive me?" Ginny asked as she walked over to Draco. "Well, how can I say no to that? Now get over here and give me a kiss before I change my mind." He smiled.

Ginny happily obliged by jumping into his arms and giving him a rather forceful kiss. Draco could not believe the way his body reacted to her; this was the first time he had ever felt something more than lust for a woman and he had no idea how it had started.

He remembered how much he loathed her when he had first become a spy. Dumbledore had figured out Voldemort's plan was to get rid of the Headmaster, during Draco's sixth year and confronted the boy about it. Draco had cracked and told him everything. After Lucius' failed mission at the Department of Mysteries, the Malfoy family had fallen out of his good graces. Voldemort had threatened to kill Narsissa if Draco did not take the mark. Draco accepted the mission. It was decided that he would go into hiding for two months after Dumbledore's death, and then rejoin the ranks once the hunt for him had cooled down. It was later revealed that Snape had made an Unbreakable Vow with Narsissa. Draco had no choice; either he killed Dumbledore or Snape did.

"It took a while for Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny to trust Draco – his status as a spy for the Order had not been revealed until after Dumbledore's death." Ginny was one of the first to come around. She had been assigned the job of watching him while he was in hiding. At first, they had both loathed each other, but eventually they began to draw close. Draco still remembered their first kiss. Ginny had been cleaning and had a streak of dirt on her cheek. Draco had cupped her face with his hand, wiped the dirt off with his thumb, and then leaned in, his lips lightly brushing hers. Since that day, they became inseparable and, at this point, had been dating for a bit over a year.

Last night when Draco had seen her lying on that ground, immobilized by the Body Bind spell, he had realized how much he loved her. He had wanted to kill each and every one of those men who had even though about hexing her. He knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and had even planed on proposing to her once the war was over. Now, he wasn't quite so sure about waiting. First things first though – he needed to get her out of there.

He pulled away from the kiss. "Ginny, here's what we are going to do: an alarm will be going off in a few minutes and I am going to activate this port-key for you. No one has access to this room other than me, so they won't notice you're missing. Oh, and by the way, can you give this to Harry? " Draco explained as he pulled the Horcrux from his robe pocket.

Just as he handed it to her, the alarm rang loud and clear. Draco wrapped his arms around her one last time before handing her the activated port-key.

It had been three days since Ginny had last seen Draco, and she was really beginning to worry. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had returned with good news: they had found and destroyed a Horcrux and were even more excited to find out they had the last one in their possession. Now all they had to do was wait for Voldemort to make the first move.

Ginny heard the door open and went to see who had arrived. She squealed with delight, throwing her arms around him and planting kisses all over Draco's face.

"I was so worried Draco, oh…I love, I love you so much," she choked out through her tears.

"I love you too Ginny. I'm okay; they didn't even notice I was gone. I'm just glad your fine, but do you know where Potter is? I need to speak with him."

"He's in the kitchen. Why?" Ginny asked as she let go of him

"It's just that I …I just received word that Voldemort plans to attack Hogsmeade, and he plans to do it tonight." He replied, giving her a worried look.

Ginny stared in horror. The Final Battle that would change their lives for better or for worse would occur that very night. Everything they had been fighting for all these years came down to this one night.

One man would live and one man would die.