A/N: Sincere apologies for the boringness of the last couple of chapters, but they were necessary. Now for some reason I had a terrible time with this chapter. I had the first four pages written for a very long time but nothing else would come to me after that. But rest assured the rest of the story will not be dull.
Disclaimer: The plot is the only thing thought up by me.
Weasel Vs. Ferret Chapter 25
Ginny didn't sleep well that night. Her dreams were plagued with the unfair words she had spoken to Draco hours before and she tossed and turned until she finally gave up. Tossing her comforter aside, she threw her legs over the bed, searching for her bedroom slippers in the dark. As soon as her feet slid into the terry cloth material she crept down to the common room and out the door towards Draco's quarters. She didn't even worry about whether Filch or Mrs. Norris were about. Tomorrow everyone would be going home and it's not like she could get detention.
Sooner than she had expected Ginny was standing in front of the entrance to the Head Boys quarters. She took a deep breathe, said the password and pulled the lever. Ginny made short work of the torch lit passage way, but halfway down the corridor, she felt an unnatural shiver run down her spine. Something wasn't right. Not knowing what weird intuition led her to do it, she suddenly broke into a sprint, going as fast as her slipper clad feet would allow, and finally ripping back to the tapestry to reveal… nothing.
The entire room was empty.
The shelves were stripped of books, the fireplace empty. The bathroom was sparkling clean and the bed was made. It was as if no one had lived here all year at all.
Draco was gone.
Ginny spun around the room in confusion and despair.
"Uh oh…" She whispered to no one.
She grasped the table she and Draco used to study on with one hand to steady herself, and that's when she noticed the crumpled up bit of parchment laying under the table in the otherwise spotless room. Crinkling her brows in suspicion, Ginny bent to pick up the out of place bit of garbage and smoothed it out on the table. Upon closer inspection however, Ginny's eyes bulged. It was a note.
G
I hope you're the one who finds this. I don't have much time to write. It turns out father had planned his visit with me taking every precaution possible. Someone was sent to retrieve me on my father's orders right after graduation. They have Blaise too. They're taking us back to the manor. I'm writing this in the bathroom, they're watching my every move. Tell Potter. Be safe.
D.
Ginny was sprinting back to Gryffindor tower before she even confirmed who the note was from. She didn't need to. Draco and Blaise being taken already changed the plan. Skidding around the corner and barking the password at the Fat Lady who was murmuring in their sleep, she sprang up the stairs to the 7th year boys dormitory.
She ran to Harry first knowing he'd be the quickest to wake of the two. Yanking the heavy scarlet hangings aside she was immediately met with the point of a wand.
"Wow, paranoid much?" Ginny retorted in response to the wand in her face.
Harry lowered his wand and gave her a look.
"Oh right, Dark Lord after you and such. Anyway," Ginny shook herself, "We have to go Harry, wake Ron, Draco and Blaise have been taken," Ginny whispered fervently, already on her way over to the snoring form of her brother.
"Taken?" Harry said, abashed.
"Yes, Lucius sent someone over to finish the job and now they're at the manor—come on Ronald!" Ginny prodded her brother again.
"No! Get back! I am done tap dancing for you!" Ron mumbled incoherently.
Harry stifled a chortle as Ron turned over fitfully in his sleep. Ginny had, had enough and finally took out her wand, prodding Ron sharply in the ribs, then pointing at his face.
"Aguamenti!"
A jet of streaming water burst out of Ginny's wand, finding Ron's face. Ron immediately spluttered awake, coughing and wheezing.
"What in the bloody—"
"SHHH! Shut up Ronald, we don't have time, Draco and Blaise have been taken to Malfoy manor, we need to execute the plan tonight," Ginny whispered frantically, already casting a drying charm over her brother.
"—Hell," Ron finished lamely, with a look on his face of someone who had been forced to absorb a lot of information in a short amount of time. Which he had.
"But, but, we'll miss the train tomorrow!"
Harry and Ginny both stared. Ron turned scarlet under their gaze.
"Right then, we should get going," He said, grabbing his wand off the bedside table while Harry threw a change of clothes on his bed.
"Ginny go get—" Harry started, but she was already out the door.
Ginny had far less trouble waking Hermione up than she did with the boys and she and the older girl were down in the common room (Ginny in some of Hermione's borrowed street clothes) already waiting for the two boys when they showed up.
Harry holstered his wand as he came down the stairs and tucked something bulky and silvery into the inside pocket of his robes. Ron also was tucking away something into his pockets. When the four of them were finally assembled, Ginny looked around at all their faces. This was it. All of the sneaking, scheming, planning and research came down to this night. Hermione's hands were white knuckled on her lighted wand, Ron's face was stony, Harry looked determined as always.
"Let's go," Harry said finally.
And they were off to the broom shed. Luck seemed to be with the foursome somehow. Skirting around Filch wasn't difficult and even Peeves seemed to be taking the night off from his usual mayhem. There was much deliberation about whether they should use the Thestrals again, but as much as Hermione hated flying, she said to choose the lesser of the two evils, at least with a broom she could see what she was flying on. Ron had wholeheartedly agreed and decided it would be easier to break into the broom shed than to call a herd of Thestrals on short notice.
Once the four were in the air, Harry in the lead, Ginny felt slightly more at ease. They were flying in a diamond configuration, with Harry at the head, Ron and Ginny at the sides and Hermione in back. She looked positively terrified.
"Oh I knew I should have brewed a calming draught for this!" She said shrilly.
Ginny actually laughed at this, "C'mon Herm, if you relax a little you may learn to enjoy this!"
Hermione made the mistake of looking down at that statement and swallowed a lump, "I'm thinking not!" She yelled back.
This time all three friends laughed and Hermione frowned, "Not funny!"
"You're right Herm," Ron said, "That wasn't funny," And then he braked all of a sudden, falling back until he was behind the brunette. He grabbed the tail of her broom suddenly and propelled the two of them forward at lightening speed, shooting passed Ginny and Harry, Hermione screaming at the top of her lungs until Ron let go.
"Now that, he resumed, "Was funny," Ron concluded when Harry and Ginny had caught up and were once again back in configuration.
Hermione looked shell shocked. She was trembling slightly on her broom while still managing to stare daggers at Ron, who looked far too pleased with himself. Harry was red in the face from trying to keep in composure. Ginny however did no such thing, as her grin was stretched wide across her face.
"See Mione? Now wasn't that fun?" Ron grinned.
"No Ronald. The only thing that's going to be fun is watching you run away, screaming like a little girl when we get back on the ground because that is exactly what you're going to be doing when I get my hands on my wand," Hermione hissed.
"Uh oh, you've upset the prefect Ronald," Harry mocked.
"Guys," Ginny interrupted, her tone grave all of a sudden, "We're almost there."
Sure enough, looking ahead over the remaining clouds in the distance, dark and imposing, stood Malfoy Manor.
"Disillusionment charms!" Harry commanded all business now, and the four of them all slowed down to hover in a particularly large cloud to cast the charms on themselves.
Once the four were successfully disillusioned, they pitched down a mile out from the Manor in a thick wooded area east of the entrance where Hermione magically shrank all their brooms and buried them at the base of a tree under some dead leaves. She placed a stationary version of the confundus spell on the surrounding area, so anything that came near the hidden brooms would immediately get confused and walk away. Now that everything was in place the three friends crept slowly towards the manor. Once they reached the immediate vicinity of the menacing structure, Ron reached into his robes and pulled out a drawstring pouch. Reaching into the small bag, he retrieved a miniature sneakoscope which he now placed on his palm. The four friends stared at the dark detector with bated breath, but it remained stationary on Ron's outstretched hand.
Nodding, Ron put the pouch away in a hidden compartment in his robes that Hermione had charmed to be undetectable and threw the sneakoscope in his jeans pocket. The four of them had been walking for about five minutes when the giant black gates to Malfoy Manor came into view. Using the bushes on the edge of the forest for extra cover, Harry, Ron and Hermione slowly crept closer to the entrance.
Once they were about 10 yards away, Ginny started to walk directly for the gate when Harry grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.
"Harry what—"
"Shhhh!" Harry pointed.
Two figures dressed in robes so black, they blended perfectly into the night flanked the huge iron gates, the Malfoy family insignia now visible in the middle.
"But the sneakoscope," Ginny protested in confusion.
"Well, they aren't doing anything suspicious are they?" Ron responded, thinking quickly, "They're just doing their job. But there are only two of them; they're definitely not expecting us."
"Good for us," Harry pointed his wand at the first guard, "Stupefy!"
Ron mimicked him with the second guard, "Bad for them," He finished as the two Death Eaters collapsed on the ground.
"C'mon we have to hurry!" Hermione whispered, running towards the gate.
Once they reached the gate, the three quickly dragged the unconscious guards behind a particularly dense set of bushes, stripping them of their cloaks, Ron giving one of them a swift kick in the ribs just for good measure.
"Ron!" Hermione scolded.
"What? I've always wanted to do that," He said shrugging.
Hermione ignored him as she stripped the mask off his face then gasped.
"McNair!" She exclaimed, "Oh that rotten son of a bitch! He almost killed Buckbeak!" And throwing the mask aside Hermione gave him a swift kick in the ribs of her own.
"Hermione!" Harry, Ron and Ginny exclaimed at once, but they were all fighting smiles.
Harry and Ginny had already made short work of the other guard, who was heavy set and had thick dark eyebrows and resembled a large boulder. Ginny had commented that it must've been Crabbe or Goyle's father. They had stripped him of his robes, which Ginny had draped over one arm and hog tied and gagged him. He looked rather ridiculous; lying gagged and tied while unconscious in only his under things.
Once the two Death Eaters were securely bound and gagged, Harry reached out and yanked a handful of hair off both figures and handed one tuft to Ginny and Hermione each.
"Ugh, I get to see what being a Death Eater feels like," Ginny pretended to gag while Ron reached into his robes once again to pull out two corked bottles of goopy mud like potion. He handed one to each girl and Hermione was uncorking her potion when Ginny suddenly exclaimed.
"Hey wait!"
Hermione glanced up alarmed, "What?"
"Why do I have to be Goyle?"
"Relax Ginny that's not Goyle," Harry said.
"Yeah, it could be Crabbe," Ron replied, patting Ginny on the head condescendingly.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "You guys aren't helping. Fine, here, I'll be Crabbe, or Goyle or whoever it is, you can be the animal killer."
Hermione reached out and swapped hairs with Ginny, each finally dropping the last ingredient in the potion and watching it bubble and hiss. Hermione's turned a darker shade of brown, while Ginny's turned electric blue.
The two girls looked at each other one last time apprehensively.
"Well, at least mine's a pretty color," Ginny said, "I could always pretend it's a shot of Phoenix fire."
"Except the feeling of burning alcohol running down your throat is far more satisfactory," Hermione held up her glass, "Bottoms up."
And they knocked back the potion in one gulp. The transformation was slow. Harry and Ron grimaced as they watched their sister and bestfriend's skin bubble and reform into duplicates of the prone men beside them.
"Woah," Ginny said in McNair's slightly high pitched voice.
"Yeah," Hermione answered back in Crabbe/Goyle's deep baritone.
"Weird," Harry and Ron chorused.
Harry tilted his head to the side, staring at Hermione/Goyle/Crabbe.
"You know what? I think that is Goyle. Isn't Crabbe blonde?"
"Who cares?" Ron shrugged.
"I care!" Hermione/Goyle/Crabbe responded, "I need to know who I am!"
"Relax; we'll just wait for someone to address you. It's not like you guys are at an AA meeting and have to stand in front of all the Death Eaters saying, 'Hello my name is, and I have a problem.' Although they probably should…" Harry trailed off.
"What's an AA meeting?" Ginny wanted to know.
"Never mind, let's get going. Tie me," And he held his wrists out in front of him, as did Ron.
Once the two boys were bound at the wrists, Hermione grabbed Harry and Ginny Ron, by their upper arms and proceeded to drag them towards the entrance. Once standing in front of the imposing structure, Hermione and Ginny were at a momentary loss at what to do when the gate suddenly swung open of its own volition. Shrugging to each other, the four entered the grounds of Malfoy Manor and trooped up the stairs where they were met by another pair of Death Eaters.
"Look what we found lurking out in forest," Hermione/Goyle/Crabbe grumbled to the first guard.
"Well holy shit, Goyle, you've got Harry Potter!" The first guard said.
Harry had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, Ron however didn't seem to be able to fight off the impulse.
"No you idiot, that's Tony Blair," He retorted scathingly, "And I'm Madonna."
"Who's Tony Blair?" The second guard asked.
"You know who Madonna is?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Shut up!" The first guard spat, "We have Harry Potter in our clutches, the Dark Lord will be most pleased. Must not be very smart there eh Potter? Got caught pretty easily there didncha?"
"Nah, I just thought I'd give you a little self esteem booster and get myself caught on purpose. You know, give you guys a little boost in morale since I can't see your Master being the type to hand out sweets when you guys have been good little Deathies," Harry replied smoothly shrugging, then winced when he realized Hermione/Goyle still had his arm in a vice grip. Hermione noticed this, but didn't dare loosen her grip in front of the other Death Eaters. She tried to shoot Harry the closest thing to an apologetic look but it looked more like Goyle was a little constipated and Harry fought the urge not laugh.
"Potter thinks he's a comedian eh? Lets see how funny you'll find it to watch your friend here scream for his death when our Master tortures him," The first guard sneered.
Harry actually saw Ron gulp noisily at this. The second guard noticed and guffawed loudly, spraying the two boys with spit.
"Let's go ya fuckers, the sooner we get you off our hands, the sooner we get our reward," The first guard grumbled eagerly.
Harry gave Ginny a significant look at this statement and Ginny crinkled McNair's eyebrows in confusion. She continued to stare at Harry has she dragged Ron further into the house when it dawned on her.
"Our reward?" She repeated gruffly, "I don't recall you being the one's to capture Scarhead and Little Red Riding Hood over here."
"Uh, yeah!" Hermione caught on quickly, "You didn't do anything but watch us bring em' in."
"What is going on here?" A sickenly oily voice came suddenly, cutting off the conversation.
The six of them had reached the grand stair case leading up to the upper wings of the house in the foyer and now they all glanced up to see a tall figure in midnight black robes and strikingly blonde hair, holding a snake headed cane.
"Lucius, we have Potter and his little friend Weasley, the Dark Lord must be informed at once," Hermione said quickly, knowing that Goyle and Lucius Malfoy were acquaintances.
The elder Malfoy's eyes gleamed, "So I see. Well Goyle, our Master shall be ever so pleased, but unfortunately he is overseas at the moment and is unreachable at the present time. Such a pity," Lucius's glittered with malice as he spoke, "It felt like such a good day for torture."
Hermione/Goyle chuckled in false enjoyment, and she discretely elbowed Ginny in the ribs and she joined half heartedly. No one seemed to take notice of the exchange.
"So, as I am the head of this house, and Voldemort's right hand," He continued in an infinitely superior tone, "I am in charge of the prisoners until his return," he finished pompously.
Ginny's urge to roll her eyes was almost overwhelming.
"God, he'd give Percy a run for his money with that tone. Someone get this man a fucking cookie."
"To the dungeons then?" The second guard, who seemed to have temporarily forgotten the previous argument, asked eagerly.
"That should suffice for now. I'll be sending someone down shortly to," He paused here, "see to our guests." The last word was said mockingly and with one last satisfied smirk to the group, swept off to another wing in the house.
Once Lucius had disappeared, the two guards back at their post and the four were well on their way to the Malfoy Manor dungeons, Ginny and Hermione finally released their grips on Harry and Ron. The two boys immediately started rubbing their upper arms while the girls apologized profusely.
"Oh Harry, I'm sorry!" Hermione fussed, "I don't really know my, well that is Goyle's strength yet. I'm surprised I can walk properly, the man is so huge."
"Hermione," Harry gave her a strange look, "Stop fussing over me, it's kind of creeping me out to have Goyle hovering over me like he's my mum."
"I'm not really Goyle Harry!" Hermione exclaimed unnecessarily.
"Oh stop it you two," Ginny cut in, "We have bigger things to worry about right now, such as where the hell is Voldemort? You heard what Draco's dad said, he's overseas. What the hell is Voldemort doing overseas? Should we be worried? Because I highly doubt he's out there to get some sun on the bloody beach."
"Ew, Voldemort in a speedo," Hermione crinkled Goyle's nose.
Everyone groaned at this.
"Hermione!" Ron complained, "I think I may loose my dinner."
"You can imagine Snape in his knickers but you can't handle Voldemort in a speedo?"
"Knock it off you two! We need a plan," Harry admonished, but he was biting back a smile.
"Well we're here," Hermione announced, "You might as well get in or we'll arouse suspicion, if anyone comes down Ginny and I can pretend like we were taunting you or something."
No sooner were these words out of Hermione/Goyle's mouth when footsteps where heard descending the hallway. Hermione and Ginny hurriedly shoved the still tied up Ron and Harry into the cells and slammed the door shut when the source of the footsteps came around the corner. Hermione and Ginny whirled to greet the intruders and both gasped. The single set of footsteps they heard turned out to be two.
And the two set of feet were attached to Draco and Blaise.
"So. You made it. Nice work."