~Ginny's P.O.V.~
I brushed back my hair and nodded slowly. Before me, Hermione took a deep breath, and held out her hands to Ron and Harry. We were about to go to visit Xenophilius Lovegood. A short trip, feeling squeezed through a tiny hole, and we had apparated there. All our belongings were back in Hermione's bag, and now we were staring up at a rather oddly shaped house.
"It looks like a rook." Ron said, as we started towards it. I could tell that he was trying not to look behind him, at the Burrow, and I sighed. I was trying hard not to give in to the very same temptation.
"It looks nothing like a bird." Hermione snapped irritably. Ron still wasn't back in her good books. He wasn't particularly back in mine, either, but as I threw one glance behind me, he did earn a pang of anger from me, for having been so close to our family once more, no matter how brief that time may have been.
"It's a chess piece. You might call it a castle." Ron said. Hermione paused, feeling surprised, as she always did, when Ron knew something she didn't. But she didn't let it phase her. Instead, she just continued walking straight ahead.
Harry was the most sullen of all of us. He clearly didn't want to speak to Xenophilius Lovegood, but it was obvious that the thought of seeing Luna cheered him up somewhat.
Keep off the dirigible plums.
I looked around, and saw what looked like orange radishes growing. I blinked. They certainly didn't look... well, natural.
"Come on, then." Harry said finally, as we stood before the towering house. He knocked on the door, and we heard a curse, followed by lots of scraping and bumping souns.
"Yes? Who is it?" Xenophilius opened the door, squinting out at us. Harry was standing closest to him, so it was no surprise when his eyes inevitably fell on his scar.
"Yes, yes, I thought you'd be round. Come on in, then, the... four? of you." He stepped aside, and gestured us in. He closed the door behind us, and led us to the kitchen. "Luna's just out catching some freshwater plimpies, she should be back soon. Could I interest you in some tea for now?"
"Sure." Hermione said. Typically english, Hermione was beginning to feel that everything could be fixed with a simple cup of tea.
Of course, none of us were expecting the beetroot red, foul-tasting, soup-like tea that was given to us after we'd alighted a flight of stairs.
We sat down where we could. I moved a pile of Quibblers away to sit on a spare bit of couch. Xenophilius himself slurped his tea as he leaned against a piece of furniture with a sheet thrown over it.
"Yes, yes, so what can I help you with?"
"Well, it's about the symbol you were wearing around your neck at the wedding." Hermione had been chosen to speak. She was the obvious choice. Harry still didn't really want to be here. Ron would have made a right arse out of himself, and I didn't particularly take to Xenophilius during our brief conversation at the wedding. If anything, it had made me rather want to pound his skull against the table. But, then, he had tried to convince me that the crumple-horned-snorcack is an endangered species, and that if I didn't help raise awareness for the amazing beast, I'd be just as good as all those people who hunted the snorcack down and cut off its horn, for their own devices.
"The symbol of the deathly hallows... What about it?"
"Deathly... Hallows?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's that?"
Xenophilius sighed, and leaned back further against the sheet-covered piece of furniture.
"Have you ever heard the tale of the three brothers?" He asked.
~Draco's P.O.V.~
I skimmed through what the librarian had written. I could almost recite it off by heart. Now, I only read it to be comforted by her memory.
Reading about her somehow helped me imagine her in the house with me. When something on the paper was obviously about her, I could almost hear her laughter. I could almost see the smile in her eyes.
I sighed, as I slammed the book shut. There had to be something. Something I had missed.
Now and then there were sightings of them. Longbottom was still at school, apparently, so that was something of a weight off of my chest. It must be one of her stupid brothers with her. They were hopeless, but Longbottom was worse. As for which brother, I could easily guess it must have been Ron, though there were never any confirmed sightings of the fourth member of their group. I simply thought that Ron had been ill with spattergroit a bit longer than the sickness usually struck for.
The last I'd heard, was still Godric's Hollow. But I knew there would have to be something again. Something soon.
Slipping the book back in my bag, ever ready, should I need to run after her, I went down to the kitchens.
Voldemort thought it funny, my spending time with the prisoners.
"Everyone has their own unique style of torture, and I must say, I do like yours." He laughed. "I've never had the patience to give them false hope before, though. I much prefer to get it over and done with. Keep it simple." He waved his wand and the last three words were written in flames before him. I'd shuddered, and nodded mutely. Better he thought I was torturing the prisoners with false hope, than he thought I actually planned to get them out of there.
Occlumency wasn't my best skill, nor my favourite, but it was certainly helpful when it came to staying alive when death eaters ran around my home as if it were theirs.
I grabbed the dinners that Debby had prepared us, and went down to the dungeons. Luna was staring at a brick, while Ollivander sat, talking to himself. I'd found out that was how he kept himself sane. He reminded himself of all the different wand types.
"I remember every wand I ever sold, Mister Malfoy, have I ever told you that?" He had said. I'd nodded, but smiled, and listened to him anyway as he told me about my wand. "Excellent for transfiguration. Though I never was sure about how you'd go with the dragon heart string."
"What torturous fare have you brought us this time, Draco?" He asked now, as he snapped out of his recitation of wand cores.
"Well, Debby decided to cook lentil lasagne tonight." I said, as I placed the tray on the ground, before sitting down. Luna scooted over and we sat in a triangle, as we quietly ate dinner together.
"Where is she?" I asked Luna. For the thousandth time. I couldn't help but ask it every time I saw her.
"She's with my dad." Luna said, surprising herself.
I jumped up as soon as I heard that.
"Where's he?" I asked, excited now that they must have been out of the countless spells they always put up to protect themselves.
After quickly explaining where her house was, Luna gave me a beam of a smile and told me to hurry. Not that I needed telling. It took me but a moment to grab my wand from my bed, and to sling my bag over my back.
And then I was gone.
Next thing I knew, I was up to my ankles in rubble. I heard a shout below me, and, looking through a hole that was right in front of me, I saw them. Well, two of them, anyway. P-Harry and Gr-Hermione both clutched what looked like the air in front of them and apparated out. Ginny and Ron must have been under the invisibility cloak.
I breathed a sigh of relief, to know that she was safe, but grimaced when I realised that I had missed her.
I went back home, and listened to the report of how Harry and Hermione had almost been caught.
Only to be woken up by cheerful stomping and some rather horrified screaming.
I wiped some sleep-goo out of my eyes and followed the sound of auntie Bella's laughter.
"Draco! You'll know!" She grabbed me, her razor sharp nails digging into my arm. She dragged me over to a rather ugly looking specimen. There were six prisoners. I immediately recognised Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Dean Thomas, another Gryffindor.
"Is this Harry Potter?" She asked, pointing to the fifth prisoner. The sixth prisoner, I noted, was a goblin. But I stared at the fifth person.
"I can't tell." I lied. It was obviously Harry. Who else would be there? Ginny or Hermione must have cast a stinging jinx at him. His face was bulbous, and you couldn't even make out where his scar was.
As soon as I'd satisfied auntie Bella that I couldn't tell her whether it was Harry or not, I looked into Ginny's eyes. I could tell that she had been doing whatever she could to avoid my eyes, but the moment I sought them out, they locked into mine. I could hear mother actually holding back tears to see the girl she so often thought of as the daughter she'd never had being held prisoner.
~Ginny's P.O.V.~
I was unaware of my surroundings as I stared into his grey eyes. How often had I looked into them, and smiled. Lately, I had tried to convince myself that I hated him. That Harry was the one I loved. But the moment my eyes looked up into his, I felt lost in his gaze.
And I knew how wrong I had been.
He'd lied to Bellatrix Lestrange, just now. Telling her that he couldn't tell it was Harry. Hermione's stinging jinx, to be fair, did hide who he was rather well, but when I looked into his eyes, I knew. I knew that Draco knew that it was Harry. He had figured out everything. Of course he had. He even had the stinging jinx down.
I was startled out of my daydream when I was pulled away abruptly, and thrown into a dungeon.
Harry, Ron, Dean, and the goblin were thrown in with me.
"HERMIONE!" Ron screamed as he tried to throw himself at the door to the dungeon.
I heard a sudden scream from outside, and knew that whatever was happening, Hermione was suffering. We had to get out of this.
"Here you go." I had never been happier to hear Luna's voice in my life. She undid our bindings, and smiled at me. "What did you do to your face, Harry?" She asked when he turned around.
"A stinging jinx." He said in answer as he rubbed his wrists gently. Ron had started pounding on the door, trying to escape. Trying to get to Hermione.
"We can't get out." Luna said. "But it's okay, because Draco will rescue us."
"How the bloody hell will that git rescue us?" Ron demanded as he turned around to face Luna. His face was red, with anger, and every time Hermione screamed I could see a vein in his forehead throb.
"I don't suppose you have any light?" Luna asked. Ron grumbled, and clicked his deluminator. Light filled the dungeon, and I looked around.
"Debby!" I said, in surprise as I saw the small little house elf apparate into the room, with another house elf that I didn't recognise.
"Dobby!" Harry said when he saw the other house elf.
"Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends." The strange house elf said.
"Young Mis-Ginny!" Debby hiccuped, and I was surprised when she threw herself at me. "Debby has missed you greatly." She said. "Young-Draco has as well. He sent Debby now to rescue you and friends."
"Debby, we have another friend who needs rescuing." I said. "What about her?"
"Debby will rescue her first, then." Debby said, and apparated away.
"What are you doing, you stupid elf?" I heard Bellatrix scream. I winced as the sound was followed by a more frustrated scream.
"GET POTTER!" She shouted at someone. On Harry's instructions, Dobby had apparated Luna, Ollivander, and Dean away.
Debby and Dobby came back at the same time. Debby grabbed my hand, with a smile, and Dobby took Harry, Ron, and Griphook.
I was surprised at how it felt to apparate with a house elf.
Rather than the usual tight squeeze, it felt like going down an incredibly steep, and wild roller coaster. My stomach felt like it was in my throat the whole way.
I was incredibly surprised when we appeared in Draco's room. In the light from his room, I could see now the school tie that Debbie wore around her neck. Her freedom.
That was why she had rescued Hermione and myself.
But Hermione wasn't in Draco's room.
"Come on." Draco said. I looked up at him, and felt myself lost in his gaze again. I shook my head quickly, trying to get out of it.
"Where?"
"Shell Cottage." he said. He held out his hand to me, and I took it. I had no idea where Shell Cottage was. I didn't know if that was where the others were. I didn't know if that was where I should go. But I did know that if draco was going to be with me, I wanted to be there.
The journey was quick, and I found myself on a beautiful beach, in front of Harry and Ron, who held an unconscious Hermione between them.
A/N: I apologise for any and all confusion this chapter and future ones may cause. As I'm sure you may know, or may have guessed if you're new to this story, it's been a while since I've worked on it. I've read the past few chapters to catch myself up, but not much. I really felt like I had to get something out tonight. I'll try to post another chapter again tomorrow, I promise. I feel really horrible about having not updated in so long.
But, anyway, I LOVE reviews. Please review. Reviews make for a happy me.
And a happy me makes for more chapters.