Disclaimer: Everything but plot belongs to JK Rowling

A/N: I really suck at thinking of chapter names. So the name of this chapter only slightly has to do with what goes on. Sorry. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. Oh, and about those ¾ things. They're supposed to be dashes. You know – those things. I used special characters so that's why they showed up as ¾ thingies. I'll just not use special characters anymore. Now, story time.

Chapter Three

Voldemort's Plan

Ron, Harry, and Hermione were walking back from the library when a bunch of girls ran up to them. Ron instantly recognized them as sixth years – the ones his sister hung out with.

He didn't know any of their names, but they knew his.

"Ron," one of them panted, the shortest one with the darkest skin. "We've been looking everywhere for you."

"For me?" Ron was surprised. Usually the girls were looking for Harry. But then he noticed they looked a bit panicked, and wondered where Ginny was.

"It's Ginny," said another one coolly, crossing her arms as if she thought she were the queen of the world.

Ron was immediately alarmed. "What about her? Is she okay?"

"Dumbledore told us to come and get you," a third girl said breathlessly.

"Why? What's going on?" He gave Harry and Hermione a look, and they just shrugged at him, looking concerned.

"We were there," the final girl told him. "There was this necklace on the floor –"

" – and Ginny started to pick it up," the third girl finished.

"But then Draco Malfoy came," the dark-skinned girl added.

"Malfoy?" Harry repeated.

"And he told her not to touch it, but she did."

"So then he grabbed her wrist and they both vanished into thin air," the girl completed.

"And now Dumbledore wants to see you, like we said," the conceited-sounding girl told him regally. "So are you coming or not?"

It took Ginny about five minutes to slow her breathing. She wasn't sure if it was because she'd been running so long and hard, or because she was hyperventilating because Draco Malfoy had saved her.

Well, he really hadn't saved her. Ginny wasn't one hundred percent sure if that bald guy with the silver arm called Wormtail would've killed her. Yet the thing was that Draco could've gone back. He could've gone with Wormtail and left her alone in America. But he hadn't. He'd stayed with her, and even picked her up when she'd slid on some stupid pencil on the ground (her father had a large collection of Muggle pencils so she knew what one was). That he'd even touch her was an amazing thing in itself.

So she sat kind of awkwardly beside him, suddenly aware that the seat was so small their thighs were touching. She tried to ignore it and leaned forward so she could see around him out the window.

"What city do you reckon we're in?" she asked, trying to make conversation.

"Oh, I can't choose," Draco said with a fake sigh. "I mean, I just know so much about Muggle American cities and everything. I'm not sure which one we're in."

Ginny shook her head, leaning back. "Sorry for being friendly," she muttered.

"I don't need you to be friendly," Draco snapped at her. "In case you haven't noticed, I do not enjoy being with you."

"Are you afraid some of me right rub off on you? That you might actually become nice for a change?" Ginny challenged, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Right and wrong," he said lazily, scooting down in the seat so his knees bumped the back of the seat in front of them. "I'm not afraid – I'm worried. I'm worried that some of you might rub off on me, like your filth or something. But not your goodness."

Ginny stared at him. He's mocking me! she thought angrily. Huffing, she crossed her arms and turned her body towards the aisle and away from him.

"How did you know that the necklace was going to Portkey us here?" Ginny demanded crossly.

"I didn't. You think I would've grabbed your wrist like that if I had thought it was a Portkey?" he shot back.

"Then why didn't you want me to touch it?"

Draco sighed so heavily she actually turned to look at him. "Where is it?" he asked, sounding exasperated.

She reached into her pocket and pulled it out. "Right here," she said, holding it out to him.

"That amulet has been in a glass case in my father's office way before I was born," Draco told her, sounding as if he would've rather jumped in front of the bus then tell her this. "I was never allowed to touch it. Even if I got near it I would be punished. Probably because I was breathing on it. And it was in a damn glass case anyway. But when I saw it on the floor I knew it wasn't right. My father once told me it had enough power to burn someone into a pile of ashes. I knew it was some sort of trap, but I never expected it to be a Portkey."

Ginny stared down at the amulet. "Are you sure this is the same one? I mean, it hasn't burned either of us to a pile of ashes yet –"

"Yes, it's the same one," he snapped irritably. "You can't duplicate it." Ginny wondered why, but he didn't explain. "So are you satisfied now?" He turned towards the window without waiting for her answer.

Ginny sighed and draped the necklace around her neck, tucking it under her robes. Draco's such a jerk, she thought furiously.

They stayed on the bus for a very long time. After a while, Draco fell asleep beside her, sprawled out with his head back. Ginny stared at him, wondering how he could make such an awkward position look so smooth. She knew if she had been sitting like that, her mouth would've been open and she would've been breathing loudly, perhaps drooling.

Ginny was feeling tired, too. A few hours went by, and she began to recognize some of the same stops. But the driver never asked why they were still there.

It was becoming impossible for her to keep her eyes open. She wanted to be the one who stayed awake, just in case something happened. But it was getting so difficult. Why can't I stay awake? she wondered, glancing out the window. The sun was just starting to go down. It seemed like it was only seven or eight at night.

Then she realized something. Obviously, America was in a different time zone. She didn't wear a watch, and neither did Draco, from what she could see. So she didn't know what time it was in England. It had to be at least twelve o'clock. And having gotten up so early for classes she was beginning to feel very tired.

Just as it started to get dark, the remaining passengers got off the bus. For the first time ever, the driver looked at Ginny and Draco in the rearview mirror, giving them a look that clearly indicated he wanted them off so he could get home.

"You two have been on this bus all day," he said gruffly. "Are you ever going to get off?"

"We'll get off here," Ginny said without even glancing at where they were.

As the bus screeched to a stop, she poked Draco in the arm. He woke without a word, as if he'd been awake the whole time. Since she was in the aisle seat, she led the way off the bus. She had just started down the steps when the driver grabbed her arm.

"Hey," he snapped. "You have to pay."

Ginny looked at Draco, who had all the money. Once again without speaking he took out a bill marked 10 and handed it to the driver, who grumbled and shoved it in a box beside him. He muttered something that sounded oddly like "foreigners."

They both got off the bus, and it drove away noisily. It was then Ginny got a look at their surroundings. Obviously they were in the shabbier part of town, but it was still busy. It wasn't even dark yet and most of the stores had bright neon lights on in their windows. People passed by in groups, talking and laughing loudly. Ginny immediately felt out of place.

"Let's find an inn or something," she said to Draco.

"We can't," he told her flatly.

She turned to look at him. "What do you mean, we can't?"

"Exactly what I said," he replied sharply. "We can't. Do you know how much it will cost to get back to England?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything." He sighed and looked annoyed. "We both don't have any idea how much it will take to get back to Hogwarts. Already we've wasted some on that bus ride. If we spend more on places to sleep then we might not have enough to get back."

"So you're saying we don't eat or sleep until we get back to Hogwarts," Ginny said dubiously.

"We can sleep," he snapped irritably. "We just won't have beds. And humans can live up to two weeks without food, so we'll be all right for a few more hours."

"So where do we sleep?" Ginny demanded sarcastically, throwing her hands out. "On newspapers in the alley?"

Twenty minutes later, that's exactly where they were – lying on old newspapers in the cleanest alley they could find. They were each lying on different sides. One of the buildings was a cheap apartment house, and someone was screaming at someone else. Another person was playing loud music. With all the noise and the uncomfortable sleeping place, Ginny did not fall asleep as quickly as she anticipated.

"I'm never going to fall asleep," Ginny moaned after ten minutes.

"Why are you complaining? Aren't you used to sleeping in places like this?" Draco shot back.

Ginny, with much reluctance, ignored the insult. She shifted onto her back, the newspapers crinkling loudly. Knowing she wouldn't fall asleep any time soon, she asked the question that had been on her mind all day. "Why did that guy Wormtail want Harry?"

Draco sighed, sounding very annoyed. "Who am I, an Oracle? How am I supposed to know what he wanted with Potter?"

"You said you knew him," Ginny snapped. "I just thought that maybe you would know what he wanted."

"All right, Weasley, you put the pieces together. Wormtail is a Death Eater. Think about it. Why would a Death Eater want Potter?"

Her eyes widened in the dark. "He was going to give him to You-Know-Who!" she cried.

"Maybe you aren't as brain-dead as I originally thought," Draco muttered. "Now can you shut up? I'm trying to sleep."

Amazingly, Ginny started to drift off into sleep, too. Her last thought was, I reckon Malfoy just gave me the closest thing to a compliment he'll ever be able to manage.

A/N: Okay, this chapter is kind of boring. But just bear with me . . . it will get better! More Harry and Ron will be coming, and towards the end Hermione will have a big part, too. Keep reviewing!