Story title: Muileach

Part 10/13

Disclaimer: Not mine. Not even a little bit, sadly. No infringement is intended, and I'm not making any money out of this.

And it can dwell on moonlight glimmer,
On evening shade and loneliness;
And, while the sky grows dim and dimmer,
Feel no untold and strange distress­
Only a deeper impulse given
By lonely hour and darkened room,
To solemn thoughts that soar to heaven,
Seeking a life and world to come.

Charlotte Brontë

Dark, blurry shapes swam beneath her eyelids and a loud sigh escaped Ginny's lips as she fought to regain consciousness. In the stillness of the room her sigh was almost deafening and when the world finally came into focus, a pair of brown eyes not unlike hers, set in an expression of tremendous anxiety, met hers as the expression slowly changed into a smile.

"Ginny?" Ron asked, looking a bit uncertain. "How are you feeling?"

"Ron," was all she could muster as she struggled against the dizziness, and the terrible ache that seemed to have settled over her. She tried to say something else; to ask him where she was and why she felt as if a part of her was missing, but all too soon her own brain provided her with the answers she so desperately needed, and she collapsed back onto the pillows, her eyes filled with tears.

The memories came rushing to her, and she bit her lips trying to keep the tears at bay. She could not collapse right now, not while there was still … "Ron," she suddenly asked, her voice filled with urgency, "have you heard anything? Do you have any idea what …" She trailed off, not daring to voice her deepest fears, knowing Ron probably shared them.

"We don't know much, Ginny," a third voice answered her as Hermione Granger came into view. She was deathly pale, her eyes red and puffy, and Ginny felt like lecturing her. What was she doing here? In her condition, she should be at home resting. But, she couldn't say anything, for she knew, without a shadow of doubt, that if she had been in Hermione's place, she wouldn't have wanted to stay home, either. "We were actually hoping you could give us some information. What do you remember?"

Ginny's eyes focused on the window, and she took a calming breath before letting herself relive everything, from Harry's hurtful words, to the horrible dread she felt as she saw him struggle against a dark hooded figure. Then she remembered pain, terrible pain, and when she had recovered enough to look up again, they were both gone.

"We had a fight" was the first thing she said, her voice small and childlike. "We had a fight, and he told me he was staying away from me. He said goodbye." Her voice cracked and she shut her eyes firmly, to keep the silent tears running down her cheeks from turning into an all-out sob-fest. She needed to remain calm right now, more than anything. "And, then," she continued softly, "he turned around and started walking away. And I looked away for just a second, and when I looked back he was struggling against a dark hooded figure. It looked …" Her voice faltered once again. "It looked like a Death Eater." She locked eyes with Ron before continuing, "Then there was pain, blinding pain, and when I looked up again, they were both gone."

"I couldn't even react," she said softly, mostly to herself. "He was being attacked, and I just stood there, and let him get taken away." The tears came freely this time, and she could do nothing to stop them. "I… I c-couldn't h-help him," she stammered at last, as the sobs overcame her.

Instantly two pairs of arms were around her as both Ron and Hermione enveloped her in a very awkward three-way hug, and they stayed that way for a long time, as fears and hopes all meshed into one and they drew strength from one another. They were going to need that strength.

"Ginny." Hermione's hesitant voice broke the silence as she put enough distance between them to look Ginny in the eyes. "There's one thing we didn't tell you," she said softly, her hand grasping Ron's for support. "This morning, we got a note from Harry's captor."

"A note?" Ginny asked, as conflicting emotions settled in her heart. The hope she did not dare to put out, hope that Harry would be fine, and they would soon be together met with the blinding fear of losing a loved one, again. Willing her voice not to break, she asked, as much determination in her voice as she could muster under the circumstances, "What did it say?"

A trembling hand -- she wasn't sure whose, but it was probably Ron's since she could feel what she thought were Hermione's hands on her shoulders -- produced a small piece of parchment, and she stared at it blankly, as her own hand reached over to take it from Ron. Almost as if in a daze, she opened it, and stared at it, willing herself to read it, and most importantly, to understand its contents.

Dawn. Fred Weasley's dying spot. Come alone if you wish to see Potter alive.

A friend

Over and over again Ginny's eyes traveled across the words, trying to make sense of them, but her brain refused to cooperate. Harry was going to die, she realized with a sudden finality that left her speechless. He was going to die unless they did something, unless she did something. All the tears, the pain, the regret that had filled her relationship with Harry for the past few years evaporated in an instant, and suddenly all that she could remember was the love she felt for him, and the tremendous happiness they had once shared, and could share again if only she could get him back.

"How long do we have?" she asked Ron as she kindly pushed Hermione's hands away from her, her heart brimming with so many different emotions she couldn't even identify what she was feeling any longer.

"Not long," he told her, her eyes now focusing on his wife as her hand grasped his tightly, and for a second she felt an enormous wave of regret to see Ron and Hermione dragged into this. Hermione was pregnant, for crying out loud! She shouldn't have to go rescuing friends, and she shouldn't have to worry about losing her husband, or her best friend. But Ginny knew how painful it was to stay behind, and she would never ask that of Hermione. This was her battle, as much as it was Ginny's, and they were going to need their combined strengths if they wanted to get Harry back.

"Well, I think it's best if you hand me my wand and turn around so I can change, Ron," she said simply, her eyes determined and her mouth set. "We wouldn't want to keep Harry waiting."

She saw Ron open his mouth, and she could see a thousand questions, a thousand worries, a thousand doubts. But in the end he just nodded as a fierce determination showed in his features, and he turned around so Ginny could get ready.

Hang on Harry, Ginny couldn't help but thinking as she stepped into her robe. We're coming.

The wind had managed to unclasp Ginny's hair from its hair pin, and now she walked slowly, almost as if surrounded by a red cloud. The warmth of the afternoon was beginning to fade away and Ginny grasped her cloak tightly as she walked, but her steps weren't any less firm or swift because of it. On the contrary, she seemed to gain strength with every step she took into the hallowed field that had seen her brother die, even as thousands of memories and questions assaulted her with an unknown ferocity, almost as if they wanted to prevent her from advancing.

But step after step they went farther and farther into the place that had seen so many battles, so many deaths. She looked around, almost without meaning to, for she did not want to look around the place where her brother's life had ended so prematurely, and was almost surprised at how lonely and forbidden the place seemed. It was almost like …the spirits of the dead were haunting it, preventing it from ever being used for anything else.

Now is not the time to think about spirits, Ginny, she admonished herself as she followed Ron farther into the fields. Now is the time to focus on Harry, and how to get out of here alive.

They hadn't been able to come up with much of a plan, to Hermione's dismay, mostly because they were in a hurry, but also because they had no idea who or what they were up against, and even for Hermione, it was hard to come up with a plan with so little information. So, in the end, they had decided to stick together, and trust their bond to guide them through whatever was coming.

Above all things, don't let yourself be ruled by panic. The childhood lessons imparted by Professor Lupin came back to her in a blinding flash of illumination as she stared to the right and felt her heart compress painfully in her chest at the sight before her.

There, barely twenty feet to her right, hung Harry, his arms and feet tied to a tree and his head hanging loosely in front of him. Sweat had plastered his messy black hair to his scalp, making his face look open and vulnerable, even as his scar stood out against the paleness of his skin. A trickle of blood grazed his temple, and numerous painful-looking bruises and burns covered his face.

For a moment, Ginny could not react. Her vision blurred and she felt a tremendous pressure in her head. It was almost as if time had stopped, and all she could do was stare at Harry, unconscious and in pain, unable to help him, or even go to him.

She understood it all at once: her mother's desperate pleas to stay, her father's gentle request, Ron's barely hidden relief, Harry's timely goodbye. It all made sense to her now. They had been trying to protect her from this.

And they had almost succeeded.

But all-too-sudden reality had come crashing in, and when she could finally push the numbness away, all the hard-earned lessons were quickly forgotten, and she did the only thing she could think of, the only thing that made any sense.

The only thing that Ron and Hermione had warned her against doing.

She screamed, her voice breaking the deafening silence like lightning on a clear night, and before she even knew what was happening she was running for him, desperate to release him, to hold him tightly, to never let him go.

Then a dark figure materialized in front of him, wand raised, and she heard Hermione's astonished gasp as the face of the hooded figure became clear.

"Yes, it's me," a female voice said, her lips curving into a hideously vacant smile "Just little old me," she added slowly, her eyes focused on Ginny. "And you want to know why?" she asked bitterly, her young, pretty face suddenly unattractive as she raised her wand and fixed it on Ginny. "You want to know why? Because your boyfriend over here took something very important away from me."

But Ginny wasn't looking at her, hadn't looked at her, not even once. For in front of her stood the man she had loved for longer than she could remember, and she needed to gather all her strength for what was to come. For if she was going to die, she was going to die trying to rescue him.

That choice, however, was taken away from her as the woman standing to her left muttered something and suddenly, those green eyes she loved so much were staring at her, a pain so profound it took her breath away reflected into those green orbs.

And for every second she stared at him she felt herself dying slowly, little by little.

"But …why?" Hermione's voice coming from somewhere very close to Ginny broke Ginny from her thoughts, but she didn't break eye contact with Harry, even as she tried to pay attention to the conversation going on besides her. "Why did you do it?"

"Didn't you listen to me?" the woman demanded angrily, "No, of course you didn't. Why would you? You're little Ms. Know-it-all, with her perfect boyfriend, and her perfect group of friends. Why would you ever listen to me?"

She laughed then, a cold icy laugh that made Harry wince and Ginny shudder. "I did it because I want him to suffer. And, that, my dears, is why you are all here. You see," she continued slowly, drawing out each word. "Physical pain is not enough… Harry has proven himself more than able to withstand it. But how would he feel having to watch his friends die in front of him. Slowly. One after the other?"

Ginny could tell from the speaker's voice she'd gone completely insane.

To be continued …

A/N: Anyone want to venture a guess as to who our 'bad guy' is? I'd love to see what you all think about that!