Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JK Rowling except for my plot

A/N: Okay, I just put out Chapter Three today and I'm starting Chapter Four. I guess you can say this story is seriously growing on me. I'm considering a sequel (would you want to read it?) Anyway, I suppose I should finish this story first, huh? Once again, I have a stupid title for the chapter. But at least it sort of has to do with the story. All right, here we go.

Chapter Four Draco To the Rescue

Ginny had a very hard time sleeping that night. She woke up many times. Finally, the last time she woke up, the sun was just starting to rise, and she didn't bother to try and go back to sleep again. She just lay there for a long time.

After a while, Draco rolled over, making his newspapers rustle.

"Malfoy?"

"Hmm?" he said sleepily.

"You awake?"

"No, sound asleep. You?"

"That was the worst night's sleep of my life," she said, sighing, not even bothering to look at him.

"I don't want to hear you complain," he snapped. "You're used to this . . . how do you reckon I feel? I've never slept anywhere but a bed in my entire life."

"I've always had a bed to sleep in," Ginny told him angrily, sitting up and propping herself up with one hand. She glared at him, but he didn't look over at her. "But unlike you, I've also had people who loved me."

"Great for you, but that really doesn't have anything to do with beds."

"Do you reckon the Dark Lord will get Harry?" she asked, changing the subject abruptly.

He glanced at her for a moment, and then looked away. "I really don't care," he said simply.

"Of course you care."

"No, I don't. I just said I didn't. Are you going deaf?"

"I heard you," she snapped, feeling frustrated. "But no one is that cruel except for Voldemort –" She winced at saying the name " – and probably your father. And you're not like your father."

"How do you know I'm not like him?"

"Because you told me!" she exclaimed, staring at him in surprise.

"I hate my father," he said.

There was a long pause. Ginny was surprised he'd actually told her that. "I hate him, too," she agreed.

"But sometimes," Draco continued, not hearing her, "when you're raised by someone you hate, you can't help but be like them."

"Then why did you just say you weren't yesterday?"

"Hmm." He stared coldly at her. "I have been known to lie, haven't I?"

Ginny shivered, his gray eyes giving her the chills. She stood up and paced for a moment, unsure of what to do. He was confusing her. Yesterday, he'd saved her from Wormtail, only to tell her today that he was like his father?

She didn't like Lucius Malfoy at all. She'd heard Ron, Harry, and Hermione talk about him a lot, and all the stories were terrible. Not to mention that he strongly supported to Dark Lord. Why did Malfoy tell me yesterday that he wasn't like his father, Ginny wondered, and then now tell me the exact opposite?

Nothing made sense. And her stomach was rumbling – she hadn't eaten since lunch the day before. Glancing back at Draco, she realized his eyes were closed again. Was he asleep again?

It didn't matter. She didn't feel like speaking to him anymore. Instead of sleeping, she had important things to do. Like finding a way back to England.

Maybe there would be something in the newspapers. Not caring how much noise she made, she scooped up all the newspapers in the alley (except the ones Draco was sleeping on) and sat down, her back against the brick wall. She went through them noisily, throwing Draco angry glances every few seconds. His expression remained the same and he never once opened his eyes.

For ten minutes, Ginny found nothing. Most of the newspapers were old and yellowed, from as long as two years ago. But she continued looking for some sort of transportation. Obviously, Muggles had to have some sort of air transport. How else would they travel across oceans?

Boats! she thought suddenly. She stood up quickly, feeling like hitting herself for not thinking of it sooner. Of course – Muggles use ships! God, I'm such an idiot. It's the most obvious thing in the world and it took me this long to think of it!

But first she needed to know where the nearest coast was. For all she knew they could be in the middle of the continent. Then she realized all she had to do was glance at the newspaper. On the top in big black letters read The New York Times.

She'd heard of New York. It was practically the only city she'd heard of. Was it on the coast? She couldn't remember. She'd never really studied geography of the world before. Her mother had forced her to learn Europe before she went to Hogwarts, but other than that, she hadn't had any teachings on geography.

Leaving Draco in the alley, Ginny emerged onto the sidewalk. It was really sunny – much brighter than it had been in the alley. She blinked several times. The sidewalks were just as crowded as they had been the day before.

Ginny stopped the first person she could. But the man took one look at her, rolled his eyes, and kept walking on without even letting her finish her sentence.

She stared after him, stunned. That was very rude, she thought. Did he do that for a reason? Is something wrong?

Staring down at herself, she found nothing wrong. She looked up again, and then noticed something. She was the only one wearing black robes. Everyone else wore Muggle clothes.

Ginny returned to the alley and took her robes off. Throwing them on Draco in hopes to wake him up (he didn't even flinch and his eyes remained closed) she turned and returned to the sidewalk.

This time she stopped a man in a navy suit. "Excuse me, sir," she said, flashing him her brightest smile. To her immense relief, he smiled back. For a moment there she'd been afraid no one would stop and talk with her. "I was just wondering where I could get tickets for the next boat to England."

His smile faded slightly, and he stared at her strangely. "Uh, there's a travel agency a few blocks from here, if that's what you mean."

"Great," Ginny said, even though she had no idea what a travel agency was. "Where exactly is it?"

He gave her directions. She thanked him and returned to Draco. He still hadn't even moved.

"Malfoy," she said surprisingly harshly. "Get up. I have a way to get us back."

Opening his eyes lazily, he took his time standing up. When he did, he raised his eyebrow at her robes being thrown across him. Embarrassed, she grabbed them back and stuffed them into a garbage can without explaining.

"Take your robes off," she told him.

"Most girls don't ask me that," he said with a grin. "They just take it off for me."

Ginny rolled her eyes, but felt her cheeks burn. "We're out of place if we wear our robes. If you want to be stared at then be my guest and wear them."

"I get stared at no matter what I do," Draco said confidently.

What an egotistical git! Ginny thought, turning away and stalking out of the alley.

A few minutes later they were navigating their way through the crowded sidewalks. Ginny figured that everyone was going to work – she saw a clock in the window of a store and found it was only eight o'clock in the morning.

People at Hogwarts must've realized I'm missing by now, she thought, leading the way since Draco had no idea where they were going. Not to mention my friends witnessed Malfoy and I being Portkeyed. I wonder if they're trying to find us. But for all they know we could be anywhere. Why would anyone suspect we'd be in America?

It was very humid out. Ginny was sweating by the time they reached Tooey's Travel Agency.

But inside, it was much cooler. She stepped in, followed by Draco, and then stood there. Unsure of what to do, she flashed a glance at him. He only stared blankly back for a moment before looking away first.

Fortunately, a tall middle-aged man with huge nostrils approached them. He seemed to notice they were uncertain, but his smile was very bright and very false.

"Hello," he said primly. "May I help you?"

"Yes," Ginny replied, taking a step further inside the room. It was full of desks, only some of them occupied. "I was hoping to get boat tickets – two – back to England."

"Of course," he said as if he'd known all along. "Follow me?"

Ginny gave Draco an amused look, and he rolled his eyes and sneered, as if blaming her for bringing him there.

The man sat behind on desk, and Ginny and Draco took two chairs in front of him. He gave them another false smile. "My name is Zechariah Montgomery. Have you ever signed with a travel agent before?"

"We just want tickets," Ginny told him, trying not to laugh at his absurd name.

His smile froze on his face. "Of course," he said again, and turned to type away into his computer (Ginny knew what a computer was because her dad had once brought one home to try and work without electricity. In the end he'd gotten so frustrated he'd thrown it out with the garbage). "Hmm," he said, faking a disappointed expression. "We don't have any openings for cruises or luxury ships going over to Europe for another year."

"A year?" Ginny repeated. She gave Draco a horrified look, but he merely looked bored.

"I'm sorry," Zechariah said with a dramatic sigh, not sounding sorry at all. "Perhaps I can check for airplane tickets?"

"Sure. . . ." Ginny said slowly, not knowing what an airplane was.

"Great," he replied, and returned to his computer. "Well, the next opening we have is tomorrow. Will that do?"

"Yeah," Ginny said. She desperately wished she'd taken more than one year of Muggle studies. What was an airplane? Well, it had the word "air" in it. Obviously it's some sort of flying transport, she thought. I hope.

"How will you be paying? Cash, credit, or check?" Zechariah asked, smiling falsely at them.

Ginny stared at him for a moment. What does that mean? "Uh, dollars?" she offered stupidly.

"Great," he repeated, and typed something in. "All righty, for two tickets that'll come out three hundred and sixty-two dollars." (A/N: I have no idea how much it really would've cost – let's just pretend it costs that much, okey dokie?)

"Three hundred and sixty-two?" Ginny said.

"Correct."

"We . . . only have eighty-seven," she told him, feeling very foolish.

Right away Zechariah Montgomery's fake cheerfulness vanished. "That won't even get you across the country," he told them bluntly.

Ginny glanced at Draco. He didn't look the least bit ruffled. Why does he act like everything is always all right? How can he be so calm? Ginny wondered.

"Thank you," she mumbled, standing up.

"Is there anyone you want to call to wire you some more money?" Zechariah asked.

"No," she said, and hurried towards the door. She hoped Draco would follow.

He did. As soon as they burst out onto the sidewalk, Ginny turned to him and said, "Now we have to wait here and be rescued."

"We won't be rescued," Draco said, his lips twisted into a sneer.

"Yes we will," Ginny told him with more confidence than she had. "Even your dad will have to spend time looking for you or else he'll look bad. And he has a lot of money to spend –"

"How the hell will they figure out where to look first?" Draco demanded, narrowing his eyes at her. "Sure, they might search for us. But do you know how many cities are in the world? It could take years. And if eighty-seven dollars can't get us across the country, then it definitely won't keep us fed for years."

Ginny tried not to panic. "Maybe if we did some magic they'll be able to track us –"

"We can't," Draco said sharply, putting his face close to hers. "I guess you really don't know anything. Wormtail is probably looking everywhere for us. If we do magic, he'll be able to find us. I promise. Death Eaters have ways of tracking people down. What they do is they find out what sort of wands the people they are looking for have, and they have some sort of way of recognizing when that wand does magic. Don't ask me how – they just do. That's why people hiding from them never last very long. Either you go Muggle to try and hide from them, or you just give yourself up."

"Wormtail won't hurt you," Ginny pointed out.

"Are you telling me you want to die?"

"How do you know he wants to kill me?"

"I know. Believe me – I do," Draco said harshly.

He pushed past her and started walking again. Ginny nearly had to jog to keep up. "Then we'll get jobs here," she said. She always tried to see the best of situations, even if they were hopeless. "We'll earn money until we have enough to go back to England or someone finds us."

"We're not Muggles, Weasley," Draco said over his shoulder, sounding annoyed with her. "We haven't had one week of Muggle schooling and we're in a totally and completely Muggle city. How are we supposed to get jobs? Not to mention neither of us are even eighteen yet."

Ginny sighed, out of options. "Then what do we do?"

"We can't do anything," he said. "We're stuck here."

Since they were starving, they found something to eat at a place called McDonalds. When they were done, they had eighty dollars left.

After they were full they just walked around all day. They didn't speak much, because whenever Ginny tried to make conversation Draco would end it quickly or say something smart that would leave her fuming.

It started to get dark again, and they decided to look for another alley to sleep. This time they found a slightly better one – the buildings that surrounded it seemed quiet enough.

They found a box of old clothes and made their beds out of it instead of newspapers. Ginny was beginning to wish she'd kept her robes for a blanket or extra padding.

Just be thankful that it's not winter, she told herself.

The hours seemed to drag by. Ginny heard Draco's breathing slow and knew he was asleep. For someone who's slept in beds his whole life he sure can sleep well on the hard ground, Ginny thought with a smirk.

She sat up, sighing loudly. There was no way she was falling asleep. First of all, she'd only had one meal the whole day and she was starving. And she was thirsty. Plus her body was aching with exhaustion, but her mind was racing.

I'll just take a walk, she thought, standing up and leaving the alley.

They'd picked an alley in the nicer part of town. It was quiet and the street was rather dark. Every now and then a car would pass by but that was it. It was kind of eerie, but soothing at the same time.

Ginny tried to imagine what her family was going through at that moment. She hoped Fred and George would come home so they would keep her parents company. Of course Bill, Charlie, and Percy all had to work. But Fred and George were still trying to set up their joke shop and really didn't have any stable jobs. Plus they'll cheer Mum and Dad up, Ginny hoped.

She had barely walked a block when someone grabbed her shoulder. Two things flashed through her mind at that moment. For a second she thought it was Wormtail. Then she wondered if it was maybe Draco.

Both theories were thrown from her mind as the person spun her around and shoved her against the nearby brick building. In the dark light Ginny could make out rugged features, but she took one whiff of the guy and immediately realized he had to be homeless. She tried not to gag, but it was hard. He was pressed up against her, holding her against the wall.

"Why hello," he said in a raspy voice, and laughed as if he thought something was amusing. "Why are you out walking alone so late at night?"

Ginny didn't answer. Her panic had started to melt into fear. A car passed by, but it didn't stop. Ginny felt too afraid to even call out, but surely they had seen her? People don't want to get involved, she thought with dread.

Then she remembered Draco. He was sleeping, though, and she wasn't sure how sound a sleeper he was. Not to mention he was a block away in an alley. It's worth a try, she thought.

She opened her mouth and started to scream, "Malf –"

But the man quickly clamped a disgusting hand over her lips, sealing off her words. She had to close her mouth or else breath in the odor of him. Despite her fear she was close to vomiting.

"Can't have you calling for help," the man rasped, and planted a slobbery kiss on her cheek. She let out a cry, but his hand muffled it.

Ginny started to struggle. No one was going to help her – she had to get free herself. She squirmed to try and reach her wand in her back pocket. Unfortunately, he had her arms pinned by her sides. And she was pressed so far up against the wall even if she could've used her hands they wouldn't have been able to slide behind her and grab the wand.

Do something, Ginny! she ordered herself, turning her head and trying not to breath in the man's smell. He's just a homeless guy – you're a witch! You can save yourself.

The thing was Ginny had never had to save herself. She'd always had someone rescue her. Like the time she'd sliced her head on a rock when she was five. Bill had been there and had fixed it up and carried her home. And in first year, when Tom Riddle had been using her to open the Chamber of Secrets. Harry had saved her then.

She tried to jerk her head away, but each time she moved she only gave him more skin to slobber on. For a minute she actually considered forcing herself to throw up on him – maybe then he'd back away enough for her to run.

But she never had the chance.

His grip on her loosened, and his face pulled away from her own. She watched in amazement as someone pulled him away and shoved him so hard that he fell off the curb, falling limp onto the street.

That someone who'd saved her was Draco.

Ron was exhausted. His parents had come to see Dumbledore the night before. He'd been up all night with them, listening to their conversations in the headmaster's office. All he'd found out was there was no way possible to try and find Ginny. They didn't even know where to begin to look.

It was about five in the morning as he made his way back to the Gryffindor Common Room. He felt sort of guilty, looking forward to his nice warm bed when Ginny could be anywhere at that moment.

He had reached the hall the portrait hole was when he came across Harry. Turning the corner, he found his best friend down the hall, looking down at the floor.

"Harry?" Ron asked. "What are you doing up?"

Harry looked up and gave him a weak welcoming smile. Then he beckoned Ron to him.

When Ron reached him, he saw what he was looking at. On the ground was some sort of necklace. It was a silver amulet, a bit bigger than a flattened Snitch, on a silver chain. The amulet was covered in small black stones.

A/N: All right, now we're getting somewhere, huh? I wasn't real sure about that deal with Ginny, but I needed some way for Draco to save her. Hope I didn't over-do it. And please keep reviewing . . . I need to know if its good enough to continue!