Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it is the property of the brilliant J.K Rowling. This story is the product of her marvellous characters and world and my imagination.

Any constructive criticism or reviews are very welcome. Enjoy

Rescue From The Gilded Cage

Ginny stood pacing the length of her room and occasionally chewing on her bottom lip in worry. She knew the final battle was taking place right that moment and she was petrified for the outcome. Every noise made her jump and she waited, terrified, for the door to open and for the victor of the battle to walk in.

She had been wearing holes in the carpet for what must have been six hours when the door finally swung open and a lone figure stood there. The figure was tall with dark hair and a thin frame, it could be either Harry or Tom and she knew for sure that her hope was all pinned on it being the bespectacled, emerald eyed saviour.

The figure stepped in to the light and she could finally see the face of the victor of the greatest wizarding war of the century.

It was …

It was Harry and she threw herself at him, sobbing terribly and hugging him as hard as possible, determined to make sure he was real. She pulled back in time to see Ron and Hermione enter the room behind him and she saw the smiles light up their faces when they saw she was there.

She was swept up in a hug from Ron in an unusual display of affection, followed by one of equal enthusiasm from Hermione. "I'm so glad you guys are here, did we win then?"

Harry's face fell for a moment, "the battle is still going on Ginny. Our mission was to get you out first while the Order had Voldemort occupied and then we're supposed to go back." Ginny nodded, worried about her family but curious, "so how did you guys get in here anyway, I thought there were loads of wards and spells?"

Hermione nodded, "there was, it took a while to get here, we left the battle three hours ago." Ron nodded, "yeah, it was definitely an experience I won't forget in a hurry.

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3 Hours previously

Dumbledore looked solemnly at the three teenagers in front of him, "the time has come and battle is upon us whether we are ready or not. The final confrontation with Voldemort will be down to you Harry, but before you head to the battlefield I have one final mission for the three of you."

The Golden Trio looked rather confused, what mission could Dumbledore possibly have for them that needed doing while the battle was going on. Dumbledore gave a small smile, "the Order and myself shall battle with the dark army and distract them while you go and retrieve Miss Weasley from Malfoy Manor."

The three had expressions of shock, "how can we do that Professor? asked Hermione, "Malfoy Manor is too protected, we can't even see it, let alone get in there." Something of the old twinkle returned to Dumbledore's eyes, "that, Miss Granger, is where the battle comes in. Security will be greatly decreased since Voldemort and most death eaters will be present at the battle, I wager that you'll have a few low level death eaters to deal with at most."

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other and then back to Dumbledore, they nodded simultaneously, "we'll do it." Dumbledore nodded, "the battle is about to begin," he told them, "go now and may Merlin be with the three of you, return as soon as possible and make sure Miss Weasley is safe."

The trio gripped hands together, as was their tradition before any difficult task, and apparated away.

2 Hours previously

They had managed to enter the Manor after twenty minutes of the combined ward breaking skills the three possessed, thankfully without tripping any alarm they knew of. They had then spent the half hour up until that point wandering pretty aimlessly down the corridors that never seemed to end, they suspected that they were magically changeable for those who did not know the place.

They were arguing quietly on the best way to go about finding Ginny when Ron, who was in front, whacked into a huge stone. Stepping back, the three found it was not in fact a stone, but a giant sphinx. Harry rolled his eyes, "a bloody sphinx, Voldemort has to pick that to guard Ginny. It was bad enough with that one at the Triwizard tournament, I so don't need this."

Ron patted him on the shoulder and Hermione tried to comfort him, "look on the bright side Harry, this must mean we're on the right track to finding Ginny." She looked up at the sphinx, "ask us your question."

The sphinx looked down at them loftily and then spoke in a booming voice, "what walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs in the evening?" Unsurprisingly it was Hermione who began jumping up and down, hand in the air, while Harry and Ron exchanged amused glances. "We aren't in school any more Mione," Ron remarked, "no need for the hand in the air, just tell us the bloody answer."

Hermione looked rather affronted, but spoke rapidly, "it's a human, they crawl as babies, walk as adults and walk with a cane as an elder." She looked up at the sphinx, "the answer is a human." The sphinx, now with a rather bored expression on its face (who knew that was possible for a sphinx, thought Hermione) merely nodded and lifted one of its huge paws to allow them to pass.

Looking ahead, they saw a corridor of darkness and worry overtook their elation at getting past the sphinx. Harry was the one to step forward boldly, "come on, we have to find Ginny and this is the right way, it's probably just an illusion anyway." Ron and Hermione nodded, albeit sceptically, and they moved forward to disappear into the darkness.

1 Hour previously

"Fucking hell," muttered Ron breathlessly as Hermione wheezed beside him and Harry nodded, "my sentiments exactly." Ron just shook his head, "what sort of sick maniac leaves a trap to stick us in a cage with five fully grown Blast Ended Skrewts, I thought we'd seen the last of the cursed things after we dropped Care of Magical Creatures."

"Ron," said Hermione, but Ron wasn't listening, choosing instead to continue ranting to Harry about psychos and dark wizards. Hermione tried again, her voice coming out a little nervous, "Ron?" Rolling his eyes Ron turned to her, "Hermione if you're going to tell me to be nice about those Blast Ended monsters then you've got another thing coming, I'm not joining some S.P.E.W for killing machine creatures."

Hermione's eyes narrowed, "actually Ronald I share your opinion about those creatures," she spoke coldly and Ron flinched at her icy tone, "I was actually trying to point out the fact that it's getting colder in here and we all know what that signals."

Harry went white, Ron flushed with embarrassment and Hermione pulled out her wand as the black cloaked forms of three dementors floated towards them, getting nearer and nearer. They could feel the happiness leeching out of the air and knew they had to act soon. Harry muttered something under his breath that sounded like "ruddy bastard, what else are we going to have to go through to find Ginny."

Then came the chorus of three voices, "Expecto Patronum."

10 Minutes previously

"She's near," whispered Harry, "I can feel her presence." Neither Ron nor Hermione questioned exactly how he knew this, they both knew just how much Harry loved Ginny and how much she loved Harry and that kind of love gives a bond.

Hermione pointed her wand at the door in front of her and whispered an incantation, "Humanae Revelio". Her wand tip flashed five times and she turned to an anxious Harry and Ron, "there are five people in the near vicinity and I'm guessing that four of them are death eaters."

They raised their wands and the same spell came from their mouths, "bombarda maxima", the force of the three spells blasting the door open and, as they saw when they entered the room with wands drawn, managed to knock one of the four death eaters unconscious.

So there were three of them against three death eaters and as if by unspoken agreement they split off and took one death eater each. The unmasked men were all unknown to the trio, obviously all the more important death eaters were off fighting in the final battle and all the better for them.

Five minutes later and the death eaters were all unconscious, magically bound and the trio stood there, a little tired but with no more than a few cuts and bruises. Voldemort should be ashamed of these death eaters, they were a disgrace to his ranks, completely incompetent duellers and rather dim too.

Hermione's revealing spell revealed one person to be through the door directly in front of them and as they opened it they just prayed it was Ginny. Their relief when they saw the slender red haired figure lying on the bed was huge, they'd finally found her.

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Back to the Present

"Time to go Ginny," Ron told her after the delighted red head had hugged them all, but Ginny stopped for a moment and looked worried. "My wand, it won't do certain things," she told them, hanging her head, "he … He did some spell so I can't hurt him." Hermione smiled kindly at her and prised the wand from Ginny's hand, waving her own wand over it in complicated motions for a few minutes without speaking a single word.

She handed it back to Ginny with a smile, "he used complex spell work, but it was rather simple once I got the hang of it," laughing as Ginny squealed with delight and hugged her again. Harry smiled warmly at her and Ron kissed her quickly, "there's nothing our Mione can't do," he announced proudly.

Ginny looked between Hermione and Ron with speculation in her brown eyes, "are you two together then?" she asked casually. Hermione and Ron both blushed a furious red, but nodded and Ginny beamed, "it's about time really." They all laughed and Harry grabbed Ginny's hand, squeezing it and giving her a small smile that she returned with a kiss on the cheek and a whisper of "soon."

Ron cleared his throat loudly, causing Harry and Ginny to jump apart suddenly, "so are we all ready to go." They all nodded, Ginny most emphatically, "I've been ready to leave since the moment I got here." With the wards down it would be safe to apparate and so they all disappeared with a pop, Hermione (being the best at apparition) taking Ginny, who had not yet had the chance to do her test, by side-apparition.

The same question was on all their minds; what sort of battle would they walk into?

Firstly, to any of you wanting Tom to win, he hasn't lost yet. The next chapter is about the battle and will tell you all which side wins.

If anyone is wondering about the question the sphinx asked, I know it is a well known and rather simple riddle, but I didn't want to try making one up (because it would inevitably be rather bad) so I borrowed this one.

I'm going away this weekend, from Friday to Monday and so the next chapter will take a bit longer than the usual three days since I won't have a computer or the internet available. I hope to get the next chapter out by next Tuesday at latest though.