"Snape!" Susan and Ginny yelled in unison
"Prof- Professor!" Draco stammered "Wh-what
"Please Draco, do make and effort to control your stutterings, you're beginning to sound like Longbottom" Snape said. Snape had clearly been less then pleased with Draco ever since he had caused him to sacrifice his status as a spy by helping Draco escape the Death Eaters the day he turned traitor and refused to kill Dumbledore.
"Sorry Sir" said Draco regaining himself "But do you know what happening?"
"I suggest you read the note on the kitchen bench Draco" Snape said dryly.
Immediately Ginny, Susan and Draco all turned on heel and sprinted back to the kitchen, tripping over each others robes as they went. They were followed by a disdainful Snape. Ginny got there first and grabbed it. It was in a yellow parchment envelope with the Hogwarts seal on it.
"I can't believe we missed this!" said Ginny as she ripped it open. Ginny, Draco and Susan all leaned in to read what it said.
Dear Miss Weasley, Miss Bones and Mr Malfoy
That was Dumbledore's loopy handwriting for sure
It will doubtlessly have come to your attention that over the past weeks the wizarding community at large is currently in terrible peril from Lord Voldemort. The threat grows daily and the death toll mounts. The three of you are in particular danger however, more so then perhaps anyone else in the wizarding community, expect myself and Mr Potter. Draco as someone who knows too much about the Dark Side, Susan as the last member of the Bones family and Ginny as the close friend of Harry Potter, all three of you are in very high danger, worse perhaps then the members of the Order of the Phoenix. However they, unlike you, are adults and asked for that responsibility. Yours was thrust upon you.
You have been placed on this island for your own protection until the danger has passed. I realise you will all be exceedingly angry with me but I hope in time you will understand why I have done this.
Mrs. Weasley was quite insistent all her children go but as they are all of age, she could not make them. She apologises to you Ginny and hopes one day you will understand, though expects you won't.
To Susan and Draco: although you are both of age the Order has discovered two murder plots set up by Death Eaters, one for each of you, that were meant to commence this week. Under the circumstances I put your personal responsibility aside and did what I thought was best. Please forgive me.
Prof. Snape is your minder while you stay on the island.
Please do not try to apparate or disapperate while on the island as I have made it impossible to do so and it will result in much agony for you.
You were all put to sleep with a simple but strong sleeping draught, the side effects of which include sleep walking. I apologise if any of you experienced this.
Feel free to use any of the muggle appliances in the house. The instruction manual is on the coffee table, though I doubt you'll find it much help; I didn't.
Once more, my sincerest apologies
- Albus Dumbledore.
Ginny, Draco and Susan were all silent for a moment while they processed this information. They then burst out in unanimous protests, mostly directed at Snape.
"We're not kids you know-"
"I've fought Voldemort before, I'll do it again-"
"-if he takes over we're going to have to fight him anyway eventually-"
"You're not my parents"
"I'll kill my mother!"
"I can't believe Dumbledore would do this"
"Who else knew" Ginny asked Snape in a fashion so venomous it demanded an immediate answer.
"I'm sorry?"
"Who else knew I was going to be abducted and sent to live on an island? Did Ron or Harry?"
"No, neither of them knew, just your parents and Dumbledore. Your brother and Potter along with Granger are out doing something doubtlessly very heroic to defeat the Dark Lord"
"And I should be with them!" Ginny shouted frustrated
"Fuck this shit, I'm off." Draco said preparing to disapparate.
"No Draco!" said Snape finally losing his cool "You'll be splinched and that's not something I can easily fix"
"Then I'll…" he gazed around the batch looking for a fireplace or broomstick
"No way put I'm afraid" Snape said regaining his disinterested manner. Draco looked as though he might hit Snape, but Snapes hand was resting on his wand threateningly and if it came to a duel Draco knew he had no chance.
"Fine then, I'll swim" Draco said and shot off out of the doorway, down towards the beach, obviously not knowing how crazy he sounded.
"Aren't you going to stop him?" Susan asked Snape
"If he tries to swim he won't get far"
"Yes but he might die!" Susan said shocked
"That" said Snape coldly "is his look out"
Ginny and Susan looked at each other, neither knowing what to do they ran down to the beach after Draco. Draco was swimming in his boxer shorts, robes ditched on the sand. He looked a fair way out but the water was still only up to his thighs. There weren't any waves; it seemed to be a lagoon type of beach.
"Snape's right, he won't get very far" Susan said grimly
"How can you be sure?" Ginny asked
"Look" Susan pointed to the horizon "See those waves all the way out there? It's like we're in a lagoon or a coral reef that ends properly out there. Those waves might not look big from here, but there'll be no way past them without a jet ski. Unless Draco knows how to transfigure coconuts into jet skis he'll never make it. Might kill himself trying though" Susan added.
"That might not be so bad really" Ginny said. She caught Susan's eye and they both laughed before sitting down on the sand. Ginny pulled her shoes off. How on earth did she get shoes on? She certainly hadn't been wearing any when she'd fallen asleep.
"I can't believe this you know. It's so out of character for Dumbledore to this to us. Usually he's all for letting kids step up and take responsibility. Look at how he let Harry face Voldemort all those times!" Ginny said digging her toes into the golden sand.
"Yeah you're right. Me and Draco are of age too. And Draco's hardly some innocent child is he? I think Dumbledore's changed a lot over the past few months though. So many deaths in such a short space of time…he's willing to throw his beliefs out the window if it means he can save a few more lives." Susan said sensibly. Ginny felt a pang of guilt. Susan's relatives had been some of those killed in the last month or two. Ginny didn't know what to say so she changed the subject.
"Yeah maybe…What rubbish about Snape being here to protect us though. He's probably in more danger then all three of us. I heard Voldemort personally wants to finish him off. " 'Oh shit!' thought Ginny as soon as she'd spoken 'I just brought up death again!'
"Wow" said Susan sounding vaguely impressed
"And he's not of any use to the Order anymore…I bet Dumbledore sent him here just to get him out of their hair"
"Quite likely I suppose" Susan said mildly. There was a pause in conversation before Ginny snapped and blurted out:
"Oh I just can't believe my mother would do this to me! She knows I'm not one to sit on the sidelines. She still sees me as some helpless 11 year old." She sounded annoyed
"She cares about you that's all. Chill out." Susan said
"Chill out?" Ginny questioned, never having heard the muggle slang before
"Yeah, relax! I got it off my muggle second cousin."
"We could be here for years though…"
"I doubt that. Just until your mum misses you too much"
"Yeah, or Harry finds out. He'll go ballistic!" Ginny smiled thinking about Harry's reaction. He'd be the only one who could possibly understand how much being stuck on an island unable to help anyone would irk Ginny. Ginny sighed a little thinking about Harry. She knew it was a cliché but they really were so right for each other. Too bad about the timing.
"What's going on with you two anyway? Still going out?" Susan asked, clearly not as up on gossip as Lavender Brown or Parvati Patil
"No it was too risky. Voldemort would probably use me to get to Harry if we went out."
"But you still like each other?"
"Well, yeah, I mean, yes." Ginny said. She remembered back to Bill and Fleur's wedding. It had been weird at first, neither of them really looking each other in the eye, perhaps afraid of what they'd see there. But when they were sitting next to each other at the Wedding Dinner they began to speak and it was just like it had always been. Talking to Harry was so natural and easy, both of them cracking jokes about Ron's frilly dress robes (the one's the twins had given him had mysteriously gone missing the previous day). It was then that Ginny realised that even though she was only 16 she'd be perfectly happy to never date another boy apart from Harry. That thought had scared the shit out of her.
"What about you, how's your love life?" Ginny asked Susan, realising she barely knew the name of any of Susan's friends.
"Well I broke up with Justin just before last Easter. Going out with him was a stupid idea in the first place; we'd been friends for too long, it was just a bit too weird. I think we really only started going out because Ernie and Hannah were and it seemed like such a nice idea…silly in retrospect."
"Yeah I see what you mean"
"Sometimes dating friends can work though, like your brother and Hermione Granger" Susan added thoughtfully
"Oh they aren't going out" Ginny said quickly, perhaps a little defensively.
"Oh sorry I didn't mean to offend you or anything"
"No, it's just…I want them to, me and Harry both do and it's so obvious it's going to happen soon. But I don't…well I don't want to lose my brother or my friend."
"I doubt that'll happen" laughed Susan.
The two of them kept talking for an hour or so, all the while watching Draco's futile attempts to make it past the breakers. Susan had a way of putting people at their ease and Ginny found herself opening up quite a lot considering she only just properly met Susan. Eventually Draco emerged from the water, coral cuts all up is chest and back, the blood dripping down his milky white skin. He pulled out his wand and healed the cuts soundlessly.
"Might I ask you whether you're both just resigned to staying on this forsaken island for the rest of your lives?" he asked them angrily as he pulled his robes on. Ginny couldn't see why he bothered- it had to be about 30 degrees.
"Well it's just there doesn't seem to be too many ways off" Susan pointed out. Draco thought about this and quickly recovered.
"We'll build a raft!" he said. Ginny and Susan exchanged looked.
"I think the salt water's gone to your brain Malfoy"
"No it'll work, trust me" he said "Acio- acio- acio!" he began to summon bits of wood and palm leaves to himself and began the process of building a raft. The main problem was that Draco had no experience with boat building and no idea what he was doing. The raft looked more like a mangled tree hut.
"Face it, we're screwed. Might as well enjoy it" said Susan stretching back on the sand.
"Come on, let's go see if there's any alcohol up at the house, I think I'm going to need some soon" Ginny said.
The girls left Draco magically bonding a palm frond to a coconut.
I'd love reviews! Always good to hear what people think.