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England
Oh, God. Her mind suddenly started
thinking again. What did I just do?
She had nearly
kissed Draco Malfoy. She had wanted to kiss Draco Malfoy. And even worse
than that . . . Ron had seen her. Of all the places in the world, of all the
alleys in the city, he'd had to appear at that exact moment in that exact
location.
Ron's face was
redder than his hair. He was actually shaking he was so mad. Harry was staring
from Ginny to Draco as if he couldn't believe what he'd just seen.
"Gin – Ginny,"
Ron sputtered furiously, clenching his hands into fists and glaring at Draco.
"Wh – what. . . .?"
Ginny didn't
know how to answer. But she didn't have to. It suddenly hit her – they were
holding an amulet. An amulet exactly like the one she had. Only it was silver
with black stones instead of gold with white stones.
Feeling returning very slowly to her body, Ginny realized something. Obviously the amulet had been a Portkey that had Portkeyed them here (A/N: that was a stupid sentence). They want Harry, she thought. Instead they got Draco and me. But now . . . Harry's here.
"Where are we?" Harry said, trying to distract Ron. But Ron wouldn't take his eyes off Draco.
"New York City," Ginny replied tonelessly. "In America."
She stepped up to Ron and gave him a quick, awkward hug. He didn't return it. When she pulled away, she saw he was glaring at her now. The look was enough to make her want to cry.
"We should get going," she said quietly, taking a few steps back from him.
"Where are we going to go?" Harry asked her.
"Anywhere but here," she told him weakly.
Ron was still giving her a death look, so she hurried past them and started to lead the way out of the alley. She blinked back tears – Why had I wanted to kiss him so much? Ron's going to hate me forever.
She had yet to glance at Draco.
I have more things to worry about then that, she thought. Harry's in danger here and I'm worrying about myself.
Her head was down so low she didn't see the two people blocking the end of the alley until she was nearly right on top of them.
She saw the black shoes and looked up. Two tall people dressed in black robes, hoods shadowing their faces, blocked their escape. It surprised her so much she gasped and took a few stumbling steps backward.
Death Eaters, she thought with a sinking stomach. They didn't just send Wormtail – they sent two Death Eaters.
She backed up so far that she hit someone. It was Harry. He didn't even notice that she had ran into him – he kept squinting at the Death Eaters as if trying to place them.
Ginny's heart pounded frantically. There was no escape this time. They couldn't run – if they did, they'd be dead before they took five steps. She glanced over her shoulder. Draco looked . . . interested. That was the only way to describe his expression. Harry looked a little surprised and maybe even a little frightened.
And Ron –
Ron! she thought, looking around quickly. Where is he?
And then she spotted him a few feet away behind her. He was hiding behind a trashcan. She could see a little bit of his red hair sticking up, but if no one had been looking for it they wouldn't have been able to see it in the darkness.
When did he have time to hide without them seeing him? Ginny wondered. But she felt a little more hopeful knowing that Ron had the element of surprise.
"Harry Potter," one of the Death Eaters said in a low, dangerous voice. "Won't you come with us?"
They could've said, Won't you come and die? and the meaning wouldn't have been any different. Harry just continued staring at them, a little amazement that they'd actually asked him what they had.
The two Death Eaters glanced at each other, and Ginny could've sworn they sighed. One of them drew out their wand.
"Step aside, girl," he snapped at Ginny, who still stood in front of him.
She started to step aside, but then at the last moment reached and pulled out her wand. Without hesitating she pointed it at the man with his wand out and shouted as loud as she could, "STUPEFY!"
The man slumped wordlessly to the ground. As the other Death Eater shoved a hand into his robes for his wand, Ginny heard Ron stand up behind her and he shouted the exact same word. A moment later, the second Death Eater fell onto the first, their wands rolling out of their hands.
Harry shakily walked over to them and snapped both of their wands in half. He threw the pieces into the trashcan, flashed Ginny a wobbly smile, and asked, "Should we leave now?"
Draco, who normally loved to be alone with Weasley and Potter so he could make fun of them all he wanted, now felt very awkward in their presence. Ron kept shooting him dark glares, but never said anything. Ginny and Harry were the only ones who really spoke.
Having a
Muggle-raised with us is actually coming in handy, he thought as Ginny and
Harry discussed ways to get back to England. I never thought I'd live to
hear myself think that.
Then again, I never thought I'd live to nearly kiss a Weasley.
"Do you have any money, like Galleons?" Harry asked Draco and Ron.
"Why would I carry Galleons around?" Ron said sourly.
"I do," Draco replied lazily, reaching into his pocket. He brought out a handful of the gold coins and counted them. "I have eleven."
"Good," Harry said, avoiding his eyes as he took the money from him. If Draco had been feeling normal he would've demanded to keep the money for himself, but he wasn't feeling normal. Not at all.
In fact, he felt crazy. Despite how foolish and embarrassed he had been at being caught nearly kissing Ginny, he couldn't help but remember how much he had wanted to. How much he still wanted to.
I am definitely losing it, he thought, shaking his head as if trying to shake all the thoughts of her out.
As soon as it got light, they went out in search of what Harry called a pawnshop. They found one in the cheaper part of the city, and Harry traded their Galleons for Muggle American money.
"Isn't that against the law, Potter?" Draco sneered before Harry went in. "We're not allowed to give Muggles our money."
Harry just grinned knowingly at him. "Didn't you know, Malfoy? To anyone but wizards our money just looks like blank coins. To the guy in there it'll just look like a bunch of real gold coins."
"I guess I don't spend time studying our money and Muggles, do I?" Draco snapped, feeling a bit stupid.
Ten minutes later, Harry came back out with two hundred and fifty dollars.
"That won't get us anywhere!" Draco told Harry sharply. "It costs more than that to fly two people to England. And in case you can't count, there are four of us."
"Well, you have eighty dollars, don't you?" Harry said, glaring at him. "And if we have to, then two of us will go back and tell Dumbledore where we are. Either way, we'll all eventually get back."
Draco was not as confident.
"What do we do now?" Ginny asked Harry. Her voice had lost it's spark and Draco couldn't tell if it was because of what had happened or because she hadn't slept more than five hours in the past two days.
"Now we go to an airport," Harry said. He handed the money to her and stood on the curb, waving his arms and yelling, "Taxi! Taxi!"
Ron, Ginny, and Draco stared at him.
A yellow car pulled up to the curb, and Harry smiled sheepishly. "I saw that in a movie once."
"Movie?" Draco repeated, smirking.
"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Ron snapped at Draco, sliding into the front seat of the taxi.
Ginny got in the backseat, sliding all the way over. Harry got in next, and Draco last. So he was smashed between the door and Harry. How wonderful, he thought, frowning.
"Where to?" the taxi driver demanded.
Ginny and Draco looked at Harry, waiting for him to answer.
"Oh – uh, the nearest airport," he said, looking as if he hoped he'd said it right. The driver nodded and pulled out into traffic.
It was the first time Draco had ever ridden in a car before. He thought it wasn't much more thrilling than a bus ride, only a little smoother. And cramped.
It took a few minutes to get to the airport. Draco immediately didn't like it. He'd only seen the outside, full of people carrying luggage, but he knew it would be crowded. He didn't like being crowded.
They paid the taxi driver and got out. Harry led the way inside, and walked up to one of the baggage check areas.
"When is the next flight to London?" he asked the lady behind the counter.
She smiled at him. "There are many flights to London . . . I think Midway has about three today."
"Midway?" Harry repeated.
"Yes. Do you not travel Midway? Because this is the line for Midway passengers," the lady said with a sincere smile.
"Um, we'll travel Midway," Harry said. "Are there four seats available on one of those flights today?"
The woman checked the computer. "Yes, there are quite a few seats left on the four-forty PM flight, nonstop to London."
"How much is it?"
The lady's smile wavered, and said, "Four tickets?"
"Yes," Harry confirmed.
"That would be four hundred and thirty-two dollars." (A/N: Once again, I have no idea how much it would cost)
Draco smirked. I told you, Potter. But you think you know everything, don't you?
Beside him, Ginny let out a small moan of despair.
"Do – do you have anything a little . . . cheaper?" Harry asked, trying to look casual.
The lady tried smiled sympathetically and returned to the computer. "Round trip tickets are always cheaper," she told him.
"Round trip?"
"Both ways. You know, with a return flight. But I take it you want to stay in London?"
"Yes, we do, but how much would round trip tickets cost?" Harry demanded.
"That would be three hundred and ten dollars and sixty-six cents." (A/N: all I know is round trip tickets really are cheaper, but I don't know how much cheaper)
What the hell are cents? Draco wondered.
"We'll take that," Harry said, a huge grin of relief spreading over his face.
"I'm glad we could work out something," the woman said. "And how will you be paying for this?"
"With money." Harry stared at the lady as if she'd gone mad.
"Of course," she said, laughing. "But with a credit card, or cash?"
"Oh . . . cash," Harry replied.
A few minutes later, Harry was holding their tickets in his hand. They had only five dollars left, but they were so glad to be going home it didn't matter. They found the right gate (with a lot of trouble, not knowing what a gate even was – and Harry was no help, having never been the one to go on a plane before) and had to wait nearly all day for the plane to come. Finally, at about four fifteen, they were allowed to get on.
They had two seats in each row, across the aisle from each other. Ginny ignored the dark looks her brother gave her and sat next to Draco, surprising him. Harry sat in the aisle seat across from her, and Ron in between him and a stranger, who had the window seat.
Ginny didn't speak to Draco until they were up in the air. They were above white clouds, so Draco got bored looking out the window. Beside him, Ginny leaned over the aisle and whispered something to Harry. When she righted herself, Draco looked over and saw she was holding the amulet that had brought him and Ron to New York.
She pulled out the gold one and put them side-by-side, examining them.
"The Brother Amulets," Draco mused.
Ginny glanced at him. "What?"
"The Brother Amulets. I didn't think the dark one really existed," Draco repeated. "My father always talked about them. He said when they were joined together they could unleash enough power to make one man invincible."
Ginny furrowed her eyebrows and pressed the amulets together. "Well, they're joined together. And nothing's happening."
"Just because they exist doesn't mean the story is true," he told her with a shrug.
"Tell me the story."
"What's with you and stories?"
Ginny smiled a little, and gave Harry the silver amulet back. She draped the gold one around her neck and tucked it under her shirt. "Please?"
Draco sighed and shifted in his seat. "My dad tells me that when the dark and light is joined, they'll unleash power. I always figured by dark and light he meant evil and good. I guess he just meant color wise. But, like you just said, nothing happened when you put them together. So the story is a bunch of bull."
"I have a question for you," she said, turned so she was facing him.
"You and stories and questions," he muttered.
"Can I call you Draco?"
He had not expected that. Why is it every question she asks me throws me off guard?
"You can call me whatever you want," he said, staring at her blankly.
She lowered her head, but he could still see her grin.
The flight seemed to take forever. They were served dinner, which Draco and Ginny had a contest to see who could finish it the fastest. Funny how Ginny made eating fast look not so gross, but when Gregory and Vincent did it Draco wanted to vomit.
Finally, they started to land in London. When the tires screeched and bumped onto the ground, Draco felt a lot of weight float off his shoulders. He had survived a Muggle city with a Weasley, and he came out relatively unscarred.
Except for the fact Draco found Ginny incredibly gorgeous and had a never-ending desire to kiss her.
A/N: I want to thank everyone who's reviewed, so put up with me for a little while, okay? Thanks to: Smilee, Lady Deathscythe, Renebre (thanks for analyzing my writing! Hint hint, other peeps!), Piggy, Trinity (awesome name, by the way), Figaro (are you still reading? I haven't seen you review more than once!) Morgan, Burke (I did toy with a little romance, hee hee), 123, Leela (thanx for reviewing so many times!), Zoemma, Cat10 (is this MORE enough for you? J) Jenaque, Rosecloud (Wormtail actually has a lot to do with my story), Valley Girl, Vanessa the Potters Daughter (I'm sure your first fic is fine – I'd love to read it! Email me: viking@ntwrks.com.) Lady Ev (THANK YOU for also reviewing so many times. I forgot to thank you in my last post . . . thanks again!) Caitlin, sOmEoNeSpEcIaL (Don't worry, definitely more romance in upcoming chapters!) Mirror of Erised, Doesntmattter (please don't die, I would feel bad if you did) and Starry Eyed Dreamer (I know there are McDonalds in England, but I figured since they were both raised in total wizarding families that they'd never seen one before. Could be wrong, though J)
Oh, and this is NOT the end! There is SOOOOO much more! Thanks once more and keep reviewing!