Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter world... If I owned Remus Lupin, I would definitely be doing something more interesting than writing some fanfiction. ;)

Chapter Twenty-One

I hit the ground with a bruising thud. The painful grip on my arm jerked me up to a standing position, twisting it at an awkward angle. I cried out in pain. My eyes finally adjusted to the shift from the lit compartment to... a forest? I only managed to glimpse a number of trees in front of me before a dark material was pulled over my face. Hands felt all over my body and my eyes teared up imaging what they were going to do to me. They found my wand in my back pocket and removed it. That's what they were looking for. I breathed in to let loose a terrified scream, but before I had any chance another hand latched onto mine and then we were apparating.

I managed to stay on my feet the next time they came down on solid ground, but just barely. I was viciously pulled forward to walk. I tried to pull away from my capture, but he nearly crushed my wrist with his own hand. I let out another shrill whimper.

"Shut up," came the emotionless voice of the man leading me. It was deep and indifferent. Not Stephen. Stephen... my mind wasn't ready to fully comprehend the betrayal. In all my wildest dreams he'd never been the contact Voldemort was using. I bit my lip until it bled to stop myself from crying out as I was pulled along faster.

There was nothing to distinguish where we were. No sounds other than my own erratic breathing and the sound of our feet against gravel, maybe. It was cold, possibly outside? For some reason I thought of dad then. I wanted to see him. I wanted him to hug me and tell me everything was going to be alright. But I knew it wasn't going to be.

I let out a surprised gasp as my foot stepped out into thin air, then dropped farther than where the ground should have been, causing my ankle to roll unpleasantly. I stumbled forwards, kept upright only by the man's hand. "Stairs," he explained, uncaring that I now stepped with a limp. We walked down maybe twenty or so, before we reached either a landing or the bottom (I couldn't tell yet), then we stopped.

I felt his body shift then heard three loud knocks against a solid, wooden surface. What I correctly assumed as a door opened and I could see light through the material covering my vision.

"Is this her, then?" an oily voice asked from the doorway.

"Obviously," was the only reply. I could do nothing but stay still, stay silent and listen. For some reason I didn't find this very difficult. I was strangely subdued, probably due to shock. Somehow it all felt as if it weren't happening to me, that I was simply watching from afar. But not for long.

"Well then bring her in," the new man replied impatiently.

My arm was released and I felt pins and needles in my hand as blood rushed back into it. A hand on my back pushed me forwards and my hands reached out reflexively in case I fell. The door was shut behind me.

"Dolohov, you were supposed to bind her! What if she'd gotten away?" Dolohov. I jerked my head in the direction I knew him to be, trying in vain to see him through the dark material. I'd actually met the man before, if you could call it meeting. He was one of the men at the Department of Mysteries last summer. He'd been the one to almost kill Hermione.

The reality of the situation came and hit me full force in the face: I'd been kidnapped by Death Eaters. I felt nauseous, nearly to the point of fainting. I'm going to die.

"Well Gibbon, as you're staring right at the girl, I don't see what your problem is, bound or not," Dolohov countered coldly. "Though if it will get you to shut your mouth, Incarcerus!"

A rope appeared from nowhere, binding my wrists tightly.

"Have you got her wand?" Gibbon asked, slightly deflated.

"Yes, here. Take it. I'm certain Malfoy will want to give it to the Dark Lord."

I will be the first to admit that this was not the appropriate time for my Weasley temper to flare up... but how often does it listen to reason? All I could think about was Lucius Malfoy handing that disfigured monster my faithful wand.

"Don't you fucking dare, you worthless servants." I hissed, although the effect was definitely dampened by a goddamn black bag over my head.

You could hear a pin drop.

"What did you just say to us, little girl?" Gibbon asked menacingly.

"I swear on your mothers' graves that by the end of all this, you will be jealous of the punishment Voldemort gave Rodolphus. I'll make sure you'll be missing more than a hand." Now, as intimidating as a teenage school girl who's tied up without her wand is next to two grown wizards who have most likely killed and tortured more people than I ever, ever wanted to think about... my comment had the desired effect.

"How in the name of Hades did she know about that?" Gibbon asked, this time nervously.

"I'd actually be quite interested in knowing that as well." Although severely more adept at masking his emotions than the other one, I didn't need to see him to tell he was shaken.

"Has someone been whispering secrets when they ought not?" I do realize that I was playing a dangerous game pushing the buttons of dangerous men, but I had remembered Tom's insistence that Voldemort wanted us for his own purposes. His lapdogs would be too frightened of his wrath to murder me without his go-ahead. You know your life has taken a turn for the worse when that's the most reassuring thought in your mind.

I steeled myself for whatever reaction my insinuation might inspire. They might not kill me, but unfortunately one's body can sustain a whole lot of damage before calling it quits. This is why I didn't overreact when a hand reached out, grabbed me by the throat and shoved my head forcefully against a hard as stone wall.

"Whose been telling you secrets, little girl?" Dolohov whispered icily into my ear.

I did my best to sound confident as his fingers tightened around my windpipe and a growing throb in the back of my skull. "It was a little bird... I don't quite remember its name, but perhaps you'd know who I'm thinking of, Antonin," I added, mentally congratulating myself for having remembered his first name from the article last January of the mass escape from Azkaban. His grip tightened. Here was another test for my memory, "It could have been Malfoy, but then again, maybe Rockwood. Nott, perhaps. What about Crabbe or Goyle? It's true though, I suppose they don't seem quite intelligent enough? Do any of those names sound familiar? Not yet? Well it may actually have been brother Lestrange, not the handless one... though of course, losing one's hand would be cause for a little bitterness, perhaps some vengeance. What of dear wife, Bellatrix? I can only imagine how someone so loving and loyal as her would have felt after her master's treatment of her one and only beloved," I finished, having run out of names of known Death Eaters... or at least, one's who were still alive.

"You've forgotten Avery and Mulciber ," I nearly jumped as Tom's voice rang out in my head for the first time in months, something I had definitely not prepared myself for. "Oh, and Yaxley."

Having been so unprepared for his involvement, and so livid at his amusement over the whole situation, I flat out told him to shut the fuck up. Out loud.

"I didn't say anything, you disgusting blood-traitor." Dolohov replied, growing more irritated with every passing moment.

"I think you've bashed her head a little too hard, you've made her go loopy." Gibbon added, finding the situation more amusing than perhaps appropriate.

I could feel Dolohov turn his head to say something to Gibbon, and as soon as I felt his grip loosen from my throat, I did something I swore I would never do to another person unless in a situation as dire as this. I brought my knee savagely up to his groin. He lurched forwards, air completely shot from his lungs. Before he even had a moments chance to recover, I brought my head slamming into his and pushed him with my tied hands back as hard as I could causing him to fall over backwards.

So full of adrenalin, my now pulsating head was the least of my worries. I dropped down to the ground as quick as I could, dodging the curse I'd expected from Gibbon. I ripped off the bloody thing on my head and dove towards the wand sticking out of Dolohov's robes, though unfortunately for me, it wasn't mine. I grabbed a hold of it, then relying entirely on my Chaser reflexes, I rolled away from Dolohov's reach and Gibbon's second curse.

As I rolled onto my back, I raised the newly acquired wand and pointed it at the short, weasel-like form of Gibbon and shouted "Stupefy!" and a bolt of red light hit him in the chest sending him flying into the stone wall. Using someone else's wand can often be less effective than your own, so I had no way of knowing if my spell or the wall was the cause for his unconsciousness (not that I particularly cared). Dolohov made to get up. Though with much difficulty as he'd still not recovered from the damage he'd sustained, I gave him a decisively unmerciful kick to the face, rendering him unconscious as well. I cursed and hopped around for a moment because in my excitement, I kicked him with the foot attached to my sore ankle and I think I may have sprained it.

Pushing the pain out of my thoughts and after using Dolohov's wand to spell off the ropes binding my hands, I retrieved my own from Gibbon as well as his own. Putting theirs in my pocket, and holding only mine, I gave one last look around. I was in a stone passageway, lit by torches. In one direction, the passage continued for some time before ending in a large, seemingly dense wooden door while in the other direction was a staircase leading up. Both seemed exceedingly ominous, so I turned and made to escape the way I'd been brought in. I'd go up the stairs on the other side of the door, travel for what felt like maybe a kilometre and when I reached what I assumed was the apparition field, I'd do just that.

I stepped over Dolohov's still body to get to the door. My heart almost fell through the floor when I got there though because nowhere on this door was there a handle. I used my wand but not spell or jinx could make it budge. Nerves pretty much shot at this point, something inside me broke. I beat against the door caring nothing for my poor fists as I pleaded to any sort of deity for their saving grace.

The only response I got was Tom's laughter at my submission into hysterics. And that's how I let him approach from behind me without my notice.

"Unfortunately my dear, as it so happens, you need one of these to open that door," I whipped around, furious with myself for not being more careful. The man was tapping the tip of his wand against the livid black mark on his arm, smiling ever so deranged. I supposed it ran in the family, because although I'd never seen this man before in my life, his close resemblance to the man in my vision after Halloween left no doubt in my mind as to his identity. He was Rabastan Lestrange.

I raised my arm to send a hex, but he was clearly the more experienced dualist. "Expelliarmus!" My wand flew out of my hand of its own accord and into his outstretched one, along with the two wands from my pocket. I was once again defenceless.

"Tsk, tsk, Weasley. I'd expect such manners from a mudblood, but certainly not someone with lineage such as yours. Although the Weasley line has been a disappointment long before the mixing of the blood." He was clearly enjoying himself.

"How's your brother?" I sneered, enjoying wiping the smug look off his face, "I hear he had himself an accident." His buttons were apparently much easier to push then Dolohov's.

His stunner knocked me out before I even hit the floor.

TBC

Author's note: Well that was pretty fun to write, I always like to see Ginny kick some ass. Sorry this took a bit longer than I intended to get out for you guys, but for some random reason I started editing the story from chapter one just so that it's better, more cohesive and I'll be able to better flush out certain plot lines that maybe weren't foreshadowed appropriately ! Once I've finished writing the story I'll repost all the chapters at the same time for the final, final copy! Anyways, glad to see you guys are still sticking with me, I hope you'll be hearing from me again in the next coming weeks!