DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! Nada, zip, zilch! Everything Harry Potter belongs to Missus J. K. Rowling. If it were mine, then I would own my house.
A/N: Holy shit! So sorry that it has take this long for me to update! Drama, stress, drama, stress, stress, stress. My goal is to get chapter seven up before the weekend is over, so yeah. After much accidental ado, here is the next installment =D
Chapter Six: The Beginning
"PLEASE, TELL ME that you're lying Malfoy." Ginny's face was deadpan as she said this. It was well past midnight, and they were in the third floor Prefects bathroom.
"I'm lying." Rolling his eyes at the girl in front of him, Draco ran an aggravated hand through his hair. Obviously, he was distressed. As much as Ginny wanted to write off what the Slytherin had just told her as false, she was inclined to believe him.
"You know that I'm not lying, Ginny." He took a deep breath, locking eyes with her. "Weasleyette, your brother narked on you, because - - well, you supply the reason. I don't know why he did what he did, but I know that he bloody well did it, because I was in Umbridge's office not two hours ago when the sod told her." Draco placed his slender hands on Ginny's shoulders, and leveled her with a weighty look. She didn't know the Slytherin well; they had only been speaking civilly for the past few weeks. Standing there though, her in nothing but a large white towel, and him in his Prefect's garb, he seemed sincere - - or at least, as sincere as she had ever seen him. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "Draco…what in the name of Merlin's balls does 'narked' mean?" The blond blinked, as Ginny raised her eyebrows at him expectantly. "Oh, it, uh…" Draco mumbled something indecipherable, making Ginny snort in what her mother would undoubtedly dub as an 'unladylike' way. "Um, what was that there, Draco? I could quiet catch it over the sound of your backpedaling." That earned her a sharp look, and one of the youngest Malfoy's trademark single arched eyebrows. "What I said, you bloody little bint, was that it is a common muggle slang term. Thanks a'bunch." That was not the answer that Ginny had expected, and a startled laugh suddenly escaped the red head. "Draco, why in the…you know what? Never mind. Never fuckin' a mind."
Ginny had been coming here, to this bathroom for the past week. One evening, when she had told Hermione in passing that she had been having trouble sleeping and that only hot baths seemed to help her, the older girl had divulged the password to the elite bathroom to her. Ginny had thanked her repeatedly, promising not to get caught. Oh course she had gotten caught, but only by Malfoy. How strange, Ginny though. That a few months ago she would have died if the blond haired git had caught her bathing, but now she barely seemed to care. Since that first night in the Astronomy Tower, they had run into each other over and over again. Their conversations were always strange, and also brief. Draco also seemed to have an impeccable way of finding her, which usually would have put her on guard. For some reason though, it didn't. She didn't exactly trust Draco, but she wanted to.
Ginny chewed on her lower lip, as one of Draco's hands came up and tucked back a stray lock of her soaking wet red hair. The action made goose bumps appear along her arms and legs; beneath her towel, her nipples hardened painfully. She breathed in sharply, and took a step back. Raising her eyes to his face, she saw that his light eyes were hooded with - - what, lust? Desire? She wasn't sure. Clearing her throat, she walked over to the furthest shower stall - - which she had occupied just minutes ago - - and walked back into it, closing the curtain behind her.
"Right," she heard Draco call. "I'll just wait here then."
Ginny chuckled softly to herself, as she pulled her jeans up over her ass and snapped the button on them. Electing not to bother with her bra, because she would be wearing a jumper over her shirt anyway, she pulled the red tee shirt that she had worn before her shower over her breasts and down over her stomach. Grabbing her jumper and running fingers through her still damp hair, she opened the curtain and walked back into the main bathroom. Looking around, she didn't see Draco, so she went ahead and walked out into the corridor. As she walked, her bare feet made soft slapping sounds on the stone floor. There, sitting on a bench beside the lavatory door, was Malfoy. He was sitting back, with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his robes. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his mouth pulled into a grim line.
"What's up Ferret boy? You look a bit stressed." She spoke lightly, as she came to stand directly in front of him. He didn't seem to hear her voice, or if he did, he ignored her. Focusing on his face, Ginny realized that he wasn't even looking at her. Or at least, not at her face.
"Draco Malfoy, you bloody little perv!" His eyes, which had previously been trained at her chest, instantly snapped up to her eyes. "Um," he said, licking his lips. "What was the question again?" Ginny screeched aggrievedly shook her head, and turned around, making to walk away. In a flash, Draco was in front of her, grabbing her wrists, and twisting her arms behind her back. The suddenness of the action made her breath come in a harsh gasp; like this, her back was pressed against his front. Suddenly, he tightened his grip on her arms. It made her neck curl up towards his and her ass press up more firmly against the front of his pants. Through the fabric of her pants, she could feel his arousal pressing against her. The sensation made her cry out, and him gasp.
"D-Draco," her voice was low, and raspy. Her head was swimming, and her thoughts were coming to her in a foggy haze. "We can't- - not here." Abruptly, he released his hold on her wrists. The only thing that kept her from falling was his hands, suddenly on her hips, steadying her. "Let's go," he said, with a hungry expression on his face. He grabbed her by the bicep, and began leading her through the dark corridor. "Draco, wait - -" Ginny tried to protest, but suddenly his mouth came crashing down against hers. Roughly, he pushed her up against the wall; his hands went down, cupping her ass, as her legs wrapped around his waist. She could feel when one of his hands left her ass. Behind her, she heard a small clicking sound, and then the wall moved. Apparently, he had thrown her up against a door, and had just opened it. They almost fell forward into the room, but his arms tightening around her back stopped them.
Ginny heard Draco kick the door closed behind them. She didn't understand how he could manage to do anything right then, because Merlin knew that she herself was having a hard enough time thinking. What was she doing? This was Draco bloody Malfoy! He was - - he was bad! He was the enemy! Wasn't he? Yes, they had been talking for the past few weeks, but this was insane. How had this even happened? What the fucking hell was she even doing? This was crazy! He was- he was – oh sweet Merlin, he was licking her stomach!
They were sprawled down on the floor, Ginny on her back, and Draco on the floor between her legs. Somewhere, Ginny had lost her shirt, and Draco had lost his robe and shirt. His face was lowered to her stomach; he seemed to be licking and biting his way to the top of her pants. Ginny was caught, like a deer in the headlights. On one hand, what he was doing to her body felt absolutely amazing; it felt so good to be touched again. But on the other hand, not only did she not know the boy between her legs very well, but it was also Draco Malfoy. And really, half-assed friendship aside, wasn't he supposed to be the enemy? More so, wasn't she still in love with Sirius?
That thought made her eyes - - which had fluttered closed in ecstasy - - fly open. In a flash, she sat up, and pushed the Slytherin away. Her arms went up and covered her chest, as her eyes scanned the dark room for her shirt. Draco, who had backed away on his knees and turned his head politely, now held the garment out in her direction without looking. "Thanks," she muttered. A moment later, her wand was lit. Draco glanced behind him, and seeing her nod at him, turned to face her. Looking around, she realized that he had led her to what had been the DADA classroom the year that Lupin had taught at the school. How ironic, she though dryly. In front of her, Draco had gotten his shirt back on, and was buttoning his robe back up.
"Draco, I-I didn't mean to lead you on." She also stood, and crossed her arms over her chest awkwardly. He glanced up at her, and arched an eyebrow. "Right. So you just forgot that I was a Malfoy for a minute. Okay." The mask that he usually wore was back in place; his face betrayed nothing, it was just a solid mask of arrogance. "Draco, it has nothing to do with you being a Malfoy, you git!" She was frustrated; she should never have drug him into her fucked up little love life. Draco, who had been headed for the door, stopped at her words. "Oh? Well then what is it Weasley?" She sighed, and gripped her hair in closed fists. She hadn't told anyone about it; Harry knew of course, but that had been an accident. It seemed almost right that the person that she would finally willingly admit it to would be someone who had nothing invested in it, who wouldn't really care.
"It has nothing to do with you Draco. I- I really like you, thinks are just…well to be honest, things are a bit fucked r-right now." Her voice cracked at the end of it, and she hated how weak she sounded. She felt like a moron, for feeling like she did, for telling it like she did. She had his attention now; Draco turned, just in time to see a tear slide down her cheek. "Hey, hold on now. I've never seen you cry Weasley, and that's something considering the volume of nasty shite that has come out my mouth about you. What the bloody hell is going on?" She sighed, as she wiped at another falling tear. "I can't have sex with you because it wouldn't be fair to you Draco. I'm - - well, I at least was in love with someone else. Fucking hell, I don't know what I am anymore, to be honest." She walked over to one of the dusty old desks, and pulled the chair out. She sat in it heavily. Across from her, Draco pulled out the chair from another desk and spun it around, so that he sat on it facing her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were with anyone. I mean, I knew that you had a few flings last year, but I didn't think that any of them were particularly serious." His eyebrows furrowed gracefully, as he pulled out his pack of ever-present muggle cigarettes. He lit one, and offered the pack to her. She accepted, and let him light it for her. "Well," she said, taking a hit. "They weren't." He looked a question at her; she stared back, and tried to figure out what to say. "Well," he said in his trademark, you're-a-bloody-idiot voice. "Who was the lucky bloke, then?" She studied her cuticles as she took another long drag. Well, she thought. May as well go for it…
"Sirius Black." For a moment, Draco just stared at her. Finally, his face crumpled as he broke out into laughter. However, when her face never changed, the blond boy seemed to sober quickly. "You're bloody serious!" She glared at him, "Quite so." He looked at her appraisingly, before shaking his head and pressing a fist to his forehead. "That… wow. I just ..wow. I mean..wow." Ginny rolled her eyes, and pushed his chair back with her foot. "Anyway, that's what was wrong. It has nothing to do with you, your name, or your blood. Alright?" He nodded, flicking ashes onto the desk in front of him. "So," he said after a few moments of silence. "What happened, then? You said that you were in love with someone, not that you are." She looked down at her toes; the polish on one of them was beginning to chip.
"I don't know." Her voice was quiet, small. "He didn't really give a reason."
Silence hung in the room once again, but this time, it was okay. Ginny finished her cigarette, and sat back in her chair. Tipping it back, she glanced up at Draco. He had just stubbed his cigarette out, and was regarding her with a guarded expression as he exhaled one last puff of smoke
"What?" she asked him. He seemed to be considering his words carefully. "So," he said finally, his voice filled with amusement. "Was he a bad lay, then?"
The only reply that he received was the sound of a stunned Ginny tipping her chair back too far on its legs, and falling backward without grace. Quickly, she rolled her legs over her head and sprung back up. In front of her, Malfoy was shaking with silent laughter.. Brushing herself off, she leveled him with one of her nastiest glares. Unfortunately for her, this look - - which usually had the person she aimed it towards cowering - - didn't seem to have much of an effect on the Slytherin.
"You 'bout done there Ferret boy?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm. After a few more moments, his laughter finally subsided, and he quieted, wiping at the tears streaming out of his eyes.
"Sweet Merlin, that was one of the bloody funniest things I've ever seen! You should have seen your face - - priceless!" Ginny ignored him, and hopped up onto the desk next to his.
"So, before this evening got all mucked up and wonky, you were telling me something very important? About my treacherous little prat of a brother?" She met his eyes, and watched as he smirked. She felt her mouth twist into a sneer. "I'm sorry Malfoy, but did I miss something here?" Tipping the chair that he sat in back onto two legs, he lit another cigarette. "No, probably not. But you have to see it from my perspective, luv. I've known about your little after school activity for months, and I haven't breathed a word about it to anyone. But here," he exhaled, and she coughed as the smoke wrapped around her face. "You own brother can't even pay you the same courtesy…I always knew he was a wanker."
"That…" Ginny couldn't even think of how to respond to what she had just heard. Could Draco Malfoy have really known about the PA for months, and not told anyone about it? Doubtful, she decided. Very doubtful. "That's a load of Hippogriff shit, Malfoy." She watched as the place above his right eye twitched. "Pardon?" He said, in a very cold voice. "I said, that that's a load off shit. There's no way that you could have known and not told anyone. I mean," she ran fingers through her hair. "What reason would you have had for not ratting us out?"
"It's not shit, you thick little bint. What is with you and this superiority complex? I always thought that I was narcissistic, but you take it to the next bleedin' level, you do. You always think that you know everything about everyone - - " He got up from his chair, and stood before her, parting her knees with his hips. "All the time. Think that you can peg anyone down with a sidelong glance, don't you?" She swallowed, and looked away from him. There was a definite truth to his words, and she hated him for it. Was she really that narcissistic? Maybe.
Draco reached up, and wrapped his fist through her hair, forcing her to look at him. "Newsflash, Weasleyette. Not everyone is pegged. You brother is a class-act arsehole, and I'm maybe not as evil as you may have thought previously." She gritted her teeth, and roughly pulled his hand out of her hair. He let go, and she pushed him back at his chest, making him take a few steps away from the desk that she sat on. "How did you find out?" Thankfully, her voice was level, even. There was something about Draco Malfoy that kept catching her off guard. She wasn't sure if she liked it, or hated it about him. But then, she had just been on the floor of an abandon classroom with the blond boy, with every intention of throwing caution - - and her better judgment - - out the window and shagging his brains out. Plus, she was still there, speaking to him and not trying to hex his privates off in a fit of embarrassment. Obviously, Draco Malfoy was growing on her. Either that, or else her broken heart were starting to unhinge her a bit.
"Two weeks before Christmas Holiday, I saw you wandering around one of the lesser used halls in the fourth floor East corridor. I had just been wandering - - I think that you've realized by now, I never sleep - - when I noticed you. I was going to say something about what you were wearing…I think that you had on an exceptionally hideous pair of pajama pants? Anyway, right when I was about to call out, I saw the wall in front of you open up. It was only open long enough for you to walk through, but it was still enough time for me to gather what was going on." As spoke, his voice was quiet. Draco was walking slowly around the classroom, picking up random objects and examining them. With the hurry that Professor Lupin had left Hogwarts in, many of his lesser favored trinkets had gotten left behind.
"You wouldn't have just left it at that though, would you have Malfoy?" Her voice was quiet as well, but still, it didn't hide the accusation in it. "No," he said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow at her. He was currently examining an outdated Sneakascope. "I didn't. One of the few faces that I was able to recognize - - other than yours, of course - - was that one wanker; Justin Fitch-Feary. The next day, I tracked him down, and I threatened him with suspension - -"
"That little sod! I'm going to string him up by his bloody short and curlies…" Ginny flexed her fists as she continued to mutter various other threats under her breath. Draco waited until she finally returned her attention to him. "You done?" he said, with a bemused expression. "Yeah, go on, go on." She settled for crossing her arms under her breath, and scowling at a spot a short distance about his head. "So he told me everything about the PA - -that's it, right? The Phoenix Army? - - and more than that, he told me everything about you. Everything that he knew, at least." Ginny's eyes widened, as the full extent of what the Slytherin was saying actually dawned on her. "Wait," she hopped down, and stalked over to the arrogant boy. "That's why we keep running into each other in the corridors? Because you're, like, what? Trying to figure me out? With the Phoenix Army shite?" His eyebrows furrowed, as he took in her enraged face.
"Uh, that- well, that wasn't exactly why…I mean-" She raised her eyebrows at him, and waited. "Well, what does it bloody well matter what my intentions were anyway? The fact of the matter is, I knew about you and your army, and I didn't nark on you." She studied his face, and finally nodded. "Thank you." She said softly. Tossing her long red hair over her shoulder, she turned away from Draco. Reaching the door, she placed her hand on the handle. "Draco," she said, resting her forehead against the door's cool surface. "Yeah?" He replied. "Why didn't you tell Umbridge about me?" She listened, as he blew out a breath she hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Just because my name is Draco Malfoy, does not automatically make me the Dark Lord's future right-hand-man." She listened, as walked over to what she thought was one of the rooms immense windows.
"So then where do you stand with this war?" Her voice was quiet, but clear. It was a loaded question, and it meant more than she thought he may have realized. She could not - - would not - - befriend a Death Eater. And she certainly could never be with one. What had happened that evening was absolutely insane, and she didn't feel like dissecting the encounter in her mind too closely, yet. She wasn't over Sirius, not by a long-shot. She still loved him, still missed him, and still cried about him. But he had told her that what she had given him - - which was everything that she had to give - - just wasn't enough. That was a deep cut to her heart, and it wasn't something that she thought she could forgive anytime soon. Was she still in love with Sirius Black? Absolutely. Did she still want to be with him? That was a harder question.
"I've been trying to figure that out for the past two years. I'll let you know when I decide." The answer was evasive, and empty. It was such a Draco answer that it made her smile, as she slipped out the classroom door and back up to Gryffindor tower.
xxXxx
"I DON'T BELIEVE it."
"It had to be a lie, Gin."
"Why would Draco Malfoy have tipped you off, anyway?"
Ginny sighed, and rubbed her temples. She was lying on her favorite ledge in the Astronomy Tower. It was the same spot where she had first spoken to Malfoy at, and she grinned to herself thinking about it. It was Saturday, the morning after Draco had come to her, and warned her about her brother's betrayal. It was just past breakfast, and the wind cutting at the tower was cold. The morning light was bright, and glaring. It was the beginning of March, so the snow was gone, but the air was still cold. Where the sun hit the tower's wall, it warmed, making Ginny feel like a cat sunbathing. She wore the same jeans as the night before, her favorite worn, ripped pair. Her shirt, which hit her at the navel, was a thin black tee shirt with a muggle cross on the front of it in faded white paint. On top of it she wore a hand-me-down black trench coat from Bill; he had spent most of his teenage years wearing it, and she cherished it for the sentimentality behind it. On her feet, were more hand-me-downs; a pair of clunky, black army boots. Her hair was down and long, and she wore sunglasses on her face.
Since that day in Grimmauld Place, she had taken to dressing a bit more plainly. She just didn't feel like herself in the same flashy, showy clothes that she had been wearing for the past two years as a 'statement'. She didn't feel like that girl anymore, the one who fought everyone and everything. Really, she didn't know who she was anymore. A girl who would give it up to a future Death Eater, she thought grimly. How had she gotten to this place?
"It's not a lie," she said, with her eyes closed. With her, was Sam, Jason, and Robin. She tried not to think of them as the Mauraders anymore. They had been sent to her time to help her save Sirius, so that the war could be won. How, though, could she save a man that didn't want anything to do with her anymore? She didn't know what to think, didn't know what to do. If the time came, when Sirius needed to be saved, she hoped that she would be able to. Despite her hurt - - her anger - - she still loved him; she would still die for the man, no matter what had transpired between them. "And I do believe him."
"What in the hell for Ginny?" Jason asked, angrily cleaning off his glasses.
"Because I just do! I-I don't know, alright?"
"You're sure that he's telling the truth?" Sam asked her, coming to sit by her feet on the wall.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"What's the plan, then?" This from Robin, always the first to accept a hard truth.
"Plan C will do, I think."
Silence. She cracked open a single eye, to see that three blank faces were staring at her.
"What?" she asked. Even to her own ears, her voice sounded tired.
"Uh, Gin?" It was Sam.
"Yes?" She tired to keep the annoyance that she was feeling out of her voice. She was pissed at the thirty-six year old Sirius back at Grimmauld Place, not his sixteen year old self that was standing in front of her now.
"What exactly is Plan C?" His face, and the face of his two friends, were not skeptical, only inquisitive. She needed to remember that not everyone was against her; really, when she took the tie to think about it, she had more friends than enemies. Unless, she thought with a wince, you counted the bad guys. When she included them into her calculations, she was pretty well screwed.
xxXxx
AT EIGHT O'CLOCK that evening, the doors to the Room of Requirements burst open, just as Draco had told her earlier that afternoon that they would. When the smoke cleared, and the short, stocky frame of Dolorous Umbridge entered the room, she was not greeted by the sight that she had expected to receive. Instead of hundreds of terrified eyes staring back at her, there was only one set. Ginny Weasley stood, with a sneer on her face, and hands on her hips. She wore what she had earlier; the only difference, being that she had traded her sunglasses for thick black eyeliner. She was alone in the room, which was transformed into a plain white room, with no windows and only one door. It was blindingly bright in the room; the addition of the smoke from the explosion of the door nearly blinded Hogwarts' High Inquisitor when she entered. However, Ginny's eyes had already adjusted; behind Umbridge, she could make out the form of two of her lackeys, and also the smirking face of Draco Malfoy. When their eyes met across the room, she inclined her head at him just fractionally. He returned the acknowledgement with the arching of a single blond eyebrow.
"Miss Weasley," the toad-like woman said, in her sickeningly sweet voice. "Where are the rest of your cohorts tonight, hm? I dare say, I would hate for them to miss out on the party." She came to stand in front of Ginny. Despite the fact that Ginny herself was a bit vertically challenged, Umbridge still only reached her shoulders. To say that Ginny did not enjoy looking down her nose at the vile woman would be quite the lie.
"Cohorts?" Ginny's face remained a mask of blank defiance as she raised both eyebrows. "I must say, I think that you must be mistaken. Obviously, I am quite alone here." She made a sweeping gesture around the room, demonstrating that she was indeed, alone. In front of her, the woman's smashed looking face hardened, letting the monster behind the mask shine through for a moment. "Indeed." She walked a small circle around Ginny; when she passed around her back, it took a physical effort on Ginny's part not to turn with her. She didn't like not having her eyes on the woman. Standing before her once again, a cruel smile spread across her shiny pink lips.
"Hand over your wand, Miss Weasley." Ginny felt her eyes narrow, but obliged. There was no way for the evening to progress further unless she surrendered her wand. What she was hoping for - - what her plan hinged on - - was going to Umbridge's office before the Headmaster or anyone in the Ministry was notified of the High Inquisitor's bust. Knowing the woman before her from that innumerable numbers of detentions that she had received at the beginning of the year, Ginny assumed that she would want to interrogate her privately. The woman - - who held Ginny's wand by fingertips, as though it were dirty - - opened her ever-present offensive pink, knitted handbag, and dropped the wand inside. With a pleased, "Humph," Umbridge raised her eyes back at Ginny. After a moment of consideration, she muttered an unintelligible spell. Instantly, bindings made of thin, twined wire shot out of the tip of her wand, and secured themselves around Ginny's wrists, binding them behind her back. As they secured, they tightened, The metal was cold, and jagged in some places. As Ginny strained against the binds, the metal bit into the tender flesh of her wrists, making her wince.
Umbridge studied her face as her arms worked the binds; a cruel smile twisted across her face as she saw the skin around Ginny's eyes tighten. "Comfortable, dearie?" Ginny licked her lips, and felt her face contort with fury. "Quite, ya bloody old bitch." The smirk instantly disappeared from the woman's face.
"Mister Malfoy!" Umbridge suddenly called in a sing-song voice. In a flash, he was by her side. "Yes mum?" Ginny rolled her eyes; the tone was his trade-mark Professor ass-kiss voice. "Drakey, dear. I need to run to my classroom. I have a present to retrieve for Ginevra here, and I would like for you to assist Misters Crabb and Goyle in delivering her to my office."
Draco raised his eyes to Ginny's and smiled, showing too much teeth and too little humanity. It was a practiced look, from spending too much time with too bad of people. She wondered for a moment, if he had inherited the look from his father, or if he had developed it to use around him. Ginny forced her face to remain impassive; she at least hoped that the look was practiced. She didn't think that Draco would hurt her, not really. Her words from that night at on the Astronomy Tower replayed themselves in her mind. I won't bite, unless you want me to…
Here was for hoping that Draco would play by the same rules.
xxXxx
TEN MINUTES LATER, Draco and Ginny had just reached the corridor that housed the office of Hogwarts' High Inquisitor. In front of them, Crabb and Goyle marched along quietly just as Draco had instructed them to do. The walk there seemed to take longer than it actually had, and the original surge of energy that Ginny had gained when Umbridge had broken down the doors to the Room had long since dissolved. As she blinked once, twice, and then again, the two boys in front of her suddenly released gasps, before flying across the hall.
"Impedemente!" A female voice called from around the corner that they approached. Ginny jumped to the right, as Draco dove off to the left, firing a counter spell at the girl.
"Expellimius!" He barked, the spell hitting Hermione Granger square in the chest.
"Draco, stop! It's Hermione!" Ginny threw the blond one of her best glares - - the one that, when coupled with her Bat-Bogey Hex, had sent a Slytherin running more than once. Running over to the bushy haired girl who was now dazed, sprawled across the middle of the corridor's floor. "Hermione, are you okay? And what in the hell was that?" Hermione sat up, rubbing the back of her head where it had made contact with the stone floor when the disarming spell had sent her flying. "Ginny, I…" glancing pointedly at Draco, before looking back at the red haired girl kneeling beside her. "It's fine Hermione, Draco's…he's alright. Say whatever you have to say; Umbridge will be back soon." Nodding, and accepting the hand that Ginny extended to her, Hermione continued speaking as she stood up and brushed her skirt off. "Ginny, Voldemort has Sirius. We have to get to the Ministry of Magic, before it's too late."
