Disclaimer: Obviously, all the characters belong to the wonderful and all mighty JK Rowling. However, the character's personalities MIGHT belong to me, because I interpret the way I'd think they'd act and think and so forth. The plot is totally mine, unless someone offers a lot of money for it. In that case, it shall be theirs, and I will be a bit richer.
A/N: Thank you VERY MUCH to
everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it. I've been writing HP fanfiction for
the longest time but never had the guts to publish it on the Internet. I'm glad
I did! If you've noticed, I've rated this PG13 this time. I don't think there
will be much PG13-ness in this chapter, but for later stuff . . . maybe for
romance? *grins* Anywho, let's get into the story, shall we?
The
United States of America
Draco
jerked his hand from Ginny's wrist, feeling very annoyed. He'd told her
not to touch it. And if she'd actually listened they wouldn't be . . .
wherever they were.
Ginny was gazing in amazement at the necklace. He wasn't sure if it was because she'd never seen something so valuable in her life, or because it had been a Portkey.
"Great
going, Weasley," Draco snapped at her.
"Where
are we?" she asked softly, ignoring him. She looked around.
"What,
this isn't your house?" Draco sneered.
She
snapped her head back to look at him, her dark brown eyes flashing angrily.
"And you wonder why you have no friends," she told him hotly.
"Who
says I don't have friends?" he asked nonchalantly. "Anyway, since you don't
know where we are, and I don't either, we have bigger problems to worry about
right now."
Without
waiting for her response, he turned and walked the length of the filthy alley.
When he emerged, he felt surprised. It was a first in his life; he normally
always known what to expect. Feeling surprised made him even more surprised.
Ginny
was right on his heels, and stepped around him out of the alley. Her mouth
dropped open. For a minute, they both just looked around. They were in a city
of some sort . . . and it looked kind of like London: people rushing by, heads
down and hoping not to make contact with anyone, cars driving by, honking their
horns. Only ¾
"They're driving on the wrong side of the road!" Ginny cried, pointing
at the street and the cars that flashed by.
Draco
rolled his eyes in disgust. Of course, Ginny probably knew everything there was
about Muggles, her father loving them so much and all. Draco, on the other
hand, never paid any attention to cars.
But as
he watched the street, it did sort of look out of place. He'd been to London a
few times before, and had sort of gotten used to the rush of traffic. Here, it
looked different.
"Did
you ever take Muggle studies, Weasley?" Draco demanded.
"Fifth
year," Ginny said distractedly.
"Do you
remember anything about people driving on the wrong side of the road?" He made
his voice as harsh as he could. Here he was, lost in some Muggle city with a
Weasley. He was not in the best of moods.
"Yes. .
. ." she said, her voice trailing off. "I think . . . something about . . . in
different countries, they drive on the wrong side of the road. Well, not the wrong
. . . it's the right side for them."
"Different countries?" Draco repeated, tearing his eyes from the street
to stare at her. "Great, so we could be in China?"
She
gave him a look that said You are so stupid. "Malfoy, look around. Is
there any Oriental writing? No. We're not in Asia. We're bound to be in some
English-speaking country."
"Weasley, shut up. You're giving me a headache."
He
heard her sigh angrily. "You're just upset because I made you feel stupid."
"I'm not
upset," he said calmly. "I'm just a little annoyed right now. We're in a city
that's obviously full of Muggles. We don't have any Muggle money, and all I
have is about ten Galleons in my pocket. That won't get us anywhere unless we
can manage to find a wizarding store that can get us back to England. So
basically, we're broke. Money is what makes the world go 'round ¾ and
that's why you and your pathetic family aren't going anywhere."
Ginny
placed herself right in front of him, looking taller than she ever had. "You're
lucky I don't believe in the Dark Arts. If I did, then you would be writhing in
agony on the floor right now."
"Somehow I doubt you would, even if you did believe in the Dark Arts."
"Hmm.
You're closer to the truth than you know, Malfoy. I'll leave that to you and
your awful father."
He had
started to turn away, but spun back around at her last sentence. "I'm not like
my father," he hissed, his gray eyes fixing furiously on her dark ones. She
stared back at him, looking stunned.
Then he
took a step back and grabbed a passerby's shoulder, partially out of anger.
The man
he grabbed got one glimpse of Draco and his eyes widened in fright. "Here ¾ take
it all!" he said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out his wallet and threw
it at Draco, and hurried away.
The
wallet bounced off Draco onto the ground, but he was too busy watching the man
run in amusement to pick it up.
Ginny
did it for him. "Malfoy, that was really cruel of you," she told him sternly.
The moment before seemed to have been forgotten.
"Who
are you, my mother?" he asked, snatching the wallet out of her hands.
"No,
thank God," Ginny muttered.
"I was
just going to ask him where we were," Draco said, choosing to ignore her
comment. He opened the wallet and flipped through it. There were plastic cards,
one of which had writing and the man's picture on it. While Draco tried to read
the small writing, Ginny reached into the fold and took out several green
bills.
She
made a weird noise in the back of her throat. Draco looked up and saw her
turning paler than she normally was.
Draco
realized the bills were Muggle money. "Yes, it is a lot, isn't it?" he said
with a smirk, even though he had no idea how much it was. "Maybe you can buy
yourself some non-used robes with it."
But
Ginny didn't look offended. She shoved the bill in Draco's face. "We're in
America," she announced.
He
scanned the money. It had the number 10 in each corner and a picture of someone
in the center. Above the picture was written The United States of America.
"What
kind of currency does America use?" Draco asked. He hated how he sounded . . .
as if he and Ginny were equals.
Ginny
inspected the bill closely. "Dollars," she read. She counted up the bills in
her hands. "Two ones, three fives, two tens, and three twenties. That would
make ninety-seven dollars total. And I don't know if that's a lot."
"Sure
it's a lot ¾ for you," Draco said, taking the money and
putting it back in the wallet. "Well, at least we have money. We can buy a
train tickets back to England."
"Train
ticket?" she repeated. "America is across the Atlantic Ocean. And unless the
Muggles built some sort of train track across the ocean that we don't know
about, I don't reckon you can get to England from America and vice versa by
train."
"And
you can't get here by broom," Draco said sourly. "So how do you get here ¾
besides a Portkey?"
"I
don't know," Ginny said irritably. "I grew up in an all wizarding family just
like you did. I don't know everything."
"There's a shock," Draco said sarcastically.
Ginny
glared and opened her mouth to say something. Before she could utter a sound,
someone tapped Draco on the shoulder. And it wasn't a gently tap with one
finger. It felt like the person was digging their nails into him.
He and
Ginny spun around. "Hey ¾" Draco said angrily, ready to tell the person
off.
But he
stopped as soon as he saw who it was. It was someone dressed in black robes.
The person was short, obviously a man, and a hood was shadowing his face and
making his features un-identifiable. After they stood there and gaped at him
for a minute or two, he reached up and took his hood off. Draco instantly
noticed he had a silver arm.
"I know
you," Draco said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion at the man's pudgy face,
watery eyes, and baldhead. "You always come to my father's dinner parties. They
call you Wormtail."
"You
are Lucius Malfoy's son?" Wormtail asked quietly.
"Yes."
Wormtail glanced at Ginny, then back at Draco. "Where is Harry Potter?"
"He's
not here," Ginny piped up loudly.
"Not
here?" Wormtail repeated. Draco saw a flicker of panic cross over his bland
features. "You picked up the amulet instead?"
"That's
right," Draco said, shrugging. "We didn't know it would Portkey us here. Are
you going to take us back?"
"Of
course I will take you back," Wormtail said, looking distracted and
worried. He then fixed his beady eyes on Ginny. "You're a Weasley, aren't you?"
"Yes."
Ginny didn't look the least bit intimated.
Draco
studied Wormtail's face. He noticed a look there . . . a look all Death Eaters got
at his father's dinner parties when they talked about people they despised and
wanted to kill. It was the look of someone about to kill someone else.
Draco
didn't really even think. "Weasley," he said quietly.
"What?"
She sounded annoyed.
He
watched as Wormtail reached with his one good hand into his robes, obviously
trying to find his wand. "Take my advice . . . and run."
Ginny actually
took his advice. Without hesitating she spun around and sprinted into the flow
of people. Wormtail found his wand and looked up just as she blended in with
the crowd.
"Fool,"
Wormtail hissed at Draco. "Your father will be most displeased to hear that you
saved the Weasley girl."
"Right,"
Draco said. He turned and ran after Ginny. Actually, he hadn't saved her. He'd
only told her to run. It wasn't like he'd blocked the blow or anything.
He
could see her fiery hair up the sidewalk. He was only about ten yards behind
her. The crowd was so thick, though, it was hard to run and maneuver around
them at the same time.
Glancing over his shoulder, he saw to his shock that Wormtail was actually
running after them. But he didn't dare try and kill them, not with so many
people around and risking that he might hit one of them instead.
Or at least
that's what Draco hoped Wormtail was thinking.
When
Draco turned to look forward again, he didn't see Ginny's hair. For a moment,
he felt a little confused. Then, up ahead, he saw that she was on the ground.
She must've slid on something because she was on her side, propped up by one
elbow, looking too amazed to jump right back up.
Draco
reached her and grabbed her by the armpits, heaving her to her feet. "Come on,
he's getting closer," Draco snapped at her, and took the lead.
He didn't
bother to look and see if she was still with him. He could hear her panting. They
ran for what seemed like ages. But every time Draco looked over his shoulder,
he saw Wormtail's baldhead only a few people behind them.
"Malfoy,"
Ginny gasped. "Malfoy, I can't run much longer."
Draco
looked for a place to hide. His eyes rested on a bus, loading passengers, about
twenty yards ahead. "We'll get on that bus," he told her.
As they
reached it, the last passenger had got on and the doors were shutting. Draco
squeezed himself between the sliding doors to stop them from closing. The
driver looked annoyed, but opened and let them both come on.
Draco
slid into an empty seat towards the back, Ginny beside him, and peered out the
window. Wormtail was just reaching the bus stop as it pulled away. He looked
like he was shouting in fury, because a few people stared at him, but Draco
couldn't hear over the roar of the bus.
"Well,"
Draco said, smirking at Ginny, "that was fun. Wanna do it again?"
Okay, that's Chapter Two! I'll try to put out a
chapter a day. Unless I'm on vacation, and when school starts I might not be
able to . . . hopefully I'll be done by school, though. Please review! Love you
all . . . *kisses near the screen*