Disclaimer: Again I do not own anything here, tis all the wonderful JK Rowling. I know this isn't a very good chapter, but I figured I'd kept you guys waiting so here it is :)
Chapter Two
The bright November sunlight almost blinded Ginny as she sat at the back of her arithmancy class, for once not concentrating on the lesson, but instead focusing on her ordeal the previous night.
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The first thing Ginny noticed was a strange musty smell, she couldn't quite place it. The second thing she noticed was that she was tied up to a chair in a dark room with only the light from a lamp on her face. She couldn't see more than four feet into the room. A voice spoke.
"Welcome Miss Weasley..", the voice said in a cold tone that chilled Ginny to the bone. "I've been waiting for you".
Ginny muffled a gasp and attempted to pull free from her bonds, with little success. "Who are you? What do you want with me?" she asked, desperately trying to buy time as she struggled with the rope tying her hands behind her back. This effort was fruitless however and she felt a breeze by her shoulder, before hearing the voice by her ear.
"Who I am is of no importance. What is important the task you're going to do for me".
"And what task would that be?" she stuttered, all sorts of horrors runing through her mind. She hadn't felt this blind terror since her first year. And the dark only made it worse, she couldn't see her captor but for a shadow that kept appearing and vanishing again.
The voice chuckled, making her wince and drawled, "You're going to find some things out for me. I believe you know of a student here with the name of Zabini, Blaise Zabini?"
She swallowed, "Yeah Zabini, what do you want with him?" Ginny felt a strong hand grab her chin painfully as the voice murmered,
"You're going to get close to him and find out what secret he's hiding."
Ginny gasped, "But he's a Slytherin, there's no way he'd ever tell me any of his secrets. It's not going to work, you've got the wrong girl, " she protested. "Just let me go, I won't do it even if-"
The voice cut her off coldly, "Oh I think we've got the right girl Ginevra Weasley, the girl who faced the Chamber four years ago." The voice chuckled maliciously as she shook visibly with the mention of the Chamber. "And as for you not doing what I want, I believe you have a lovely family of brothers. Wonder how your dear mother would feel if they started to go missing?"
Ginny choked back a sob, "You wouldn't - my brothers - leave them alone please!"
The silence that followed told her the voice could not be reasoned with. With tears rolling down her face, she swallowed and said, "What do I have to do?"
The hand that had been holding her chin in a painful grasp gentled to a caress that she wasn't sure she preferred. "Nothing more than I said, get close to the Zabini boy and find out his secrets. I have my ways of watching so don't even think of tricking me". The light in her face went out suddenly and Ginny was pushed to her feet, blindfolded and taken from the room. After some minutes of walking she was unbound and left standing. Taking her blindfold off, Ginny was dazzled by the light of the school lamps in the corridor. She blinked, tears still trickling down her cheeks and started into a frenzied run through the school, not stopping to catch breath until she reached Gryffindor Portrait and finally her bed, where she dived under the covers and tried to muffle the sobs racking her body...
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"Miss Weasley? Miss Weasley?" Ginny was shaken from her disturbed reverie by the Arithmancy professor looking sternly at her from the front of the class. "Is my lesson so boring and dull to you?"
Ginny sat up in her seat quickly, "No not at all professor-"
"See me after class", the teacher said with a wave of her hand, "Now back to the third rune..." Ginny tried to concentrate for the rest of the lesson, avoiding the stares of her classmates.
At the end she approached the professor, "Professor I'm so sorry about earlier, it won't happen again."
Professor Vector – as she was known – scrutinised her face, "Are you alright dear, is there something wrong?"
Ginny shook her head, "No miss, nothing. I'm fine, just a bit tired that's all". She was dismissed by Vector and dashed off to her next lesson.
At lunchtime Ginny skipped dinner in the Great Hall and took a walk outside, so she wouldn't have to pretend to be happy, which she was becoming so tired of doing. She found the tree across the grounds that she had sat in the previous day and let the icy wind envelop her while her thoughts ran and her hair acted like a shield to the outside world, covering her face. Hogwarts had always been at its most beautiful in the winter months and it was no exception now, with a haunting beauty from the grounds being empty. Somehow Ginny felt safer outside with the elements than inside with those shadows and dark spaces. Nobody else seemed to see them, it was as though she could see all the evil in the world when they could not. She thought about what her captor had said, get close to Zabini. All Slytherins had secrets that was true, but what was so special about Zabini? And what would her captor do when she had found the information out, if she ever did? Her brothers being hurt was unthinkable and she knew she would have to do as they said. But how would they know if she was lying? And they seemed to know all about her first year, something which scared her more than the task she had been given to complete. Ginny's watch, given to her by Harry on her last birthday, reminded her it was almost time for afternoon classes to start, so she walked back to the castle.
After lessons she had had a free period so she used that time to catch up on her homework, knowing she wouldn't want to be out of Gryffindor Tower after dinner, especially after yesterday's experience. She finished it rather quickly and joined her roommates for dinner in the Great Hall – joining in a little bit of conversation but not really tasting the pot roast she ate. Whilst scraping her fork across her potatoes in a pretence to eat them, her eyes were drawn to the slytherin table. She singled Zabini out easily, tall frame, dark hair and a handsome face that was marred with a smirk as he spoke to his table neighbour, Draco Malfoy. Malfoy then clearly said something he didn't like as Zabini shoved him and looked down at his food scowling. Ginny, involved in their exchange, didn't have to time to look away as Zabini looked up from his plate to catch her eye. His eyes widened and he stared curiously at her, whilst Ginny dropped her gaze, face burning in embarrassment of being caught. She didn't look over at that table again for the rest of the meal for fear Zabini was still looking her way and left as soon as she could, hurrying back to her dorm.
On the way back however, she heard light footsteps behind her and whipped around to see who was there before they could startle her. It turned out to be Zabini who had been following her and was now leaning around the wall nonchalently. Ginny stared at him, what could he possibly want with her? Had he found out that she had to spy on him?
"This is starting to be a common occurrence, "he drawled. "Meeting in the halls like this, we really must stop".
Ginny frowned slightly at him, "But you followed me out here. Why?"
Zabini smirked at her, "Yes I suppose that's true, well, truth be told, I was intrigued." He pushed away from the wall and walked slowly towards her. "Why were you staring at me during dinner?" His eyes searched hers out intently.
Ginny shook her head. "No reason, I was just looking that's all", she spoke quietly.
"Got a thing for me have you?" Zabini asked as his smirk deepened, as Ginny flushed a deep red. "Never mind. You can go".
He dismissed her with a wave of his hand and she continued on her way, breathing in deeply once she was out of sight. Damn Zabini! He was going to make this much harder. Well at least she'd started to talk to him, they couldn't say she hadn't tried.
