chapter one: Limos and Looking

"Ginny Weasley?" The prominet knock on the door, so hard and swift and loud, had set a little piece of doubt into her mind, but when she'd opened it to find the Minister of Magic asking for her name, she was so close to panicking she didn't answer him right away. George stood behind her, crunching an apple lazily and giving her a slight nudge in her back. The 15-year-old girl stuttered for a bit before inviting him in. He declined the offer.

"We need you to come with us. It's a matter of urgency."

Urgency? That Ginny was needed for? This must have been a mistake. Maybe they meant to find her father or one of her older brothers... Ginny couldn't possibly help, could she?

"Now, Mrs. Weasley," His tone pressed for her to come. "You must prepare. Tell your family you're leaving and pack a bag for about a week's stay. Don't take longer than five minutes." He sounded very tired and nervous, as if there was some very great, grave, dangerous matter weighing on his mind and troubling him deeply. By the way he hurried her and stared off into space, lost in thought, that may be the case.

As for Ginny, she walked outside onto the front porch of the Burrow with her duffel bag, which had a few strings and things hanging out of it because of her rush, and kissed her mother and father good-bye, waving to the twins and her parents and Percy. Ron had gone with Harry and Hermione to some sort of tournament. She didn't know all the details. The summer was still young and she was being whisked off to who-knows-where in... a Muggle car?! The Minister didn't say anything; just climbed in and told the driver to start heading where they needed to. Ginny gave the Burrow one last long look before leaving, for what she hoped wouldn't be too long.



The car was actually a rather comfortable and nice one. It was what the Muggles call a Limosine, and if you rode around in one, you were mostly likely to be very rich or important. But Ginny wasn't feeling important; just confused. Where was she going? Why? And would she really be back in her home in a whole week? Didn't they know she was a girl with plans for the summer?! Those jerks....

The car ride was longer than she had expected but it proved to be most interesting. She found all the controls for the air-conditioning and suceeded in creating wind and swiftly taking it away. She felt like God. One minute, it was blowing in her face and the next she'd turned the dial the other way and it disappeared. She had the power! The only question on her mind now was: does God have dials?

About an hour or so into the trip, they picked up someone else who seemed just as surprised as Ginny had been. She watched as the person walked toward the car and opened the door swiftly. 'Please don't let it be him...' Ginny thought, as she saw where they were parked. 'Please, anyone but him!' But it was him.

Draco Malfoy slid into the car and cast a very angry glare in Ginny's general direction. It took her a moment to figure out that he was looking towards his father (who was speaking with the Minister) outside the window. The long, black limosine was providing enough entertainment for Ginny, but Draco seemed rather bored. He slouched in his seat as he never had before and scowled at no one in particular. His arms were crossed and his pale hair dangled a bit in his eyes, not slicked back as it usually was. After all, it was summer.

They rode for another two hours before making another stop (this didn't include bathroom breaks) and they'd barely talked at all for the whole ride. Together, in silence, they had discovered the television and were channel surfing (this was a television with good reception IN A CAR) as the third person stepped in. He'd seemed to have been expecting the limo, since his bag was already packed and he had a smile on his face that said "i know something you don't knoooow" in that ugly, taunting voice little children use. Well, everyone's entitled to whatever makes them happy, and if keeping secrets was the source of Oliver Wood's happiness, they would not allow it.

They beratted him with a thousand questions so loud and so fast he wasn't able to think clearly. His head began to spin and felt a little bit of uneasiness form in the pit of his stomach. You learn something new everyday and Oliver learned he didn't like to ride in cars.

"You know, don't you?! You know why we're here?!" Ginny asked loudly, referring mostly to that smile that had recently disappeared. He nodded, found a barfbag, and made excellent use of it.

Once able to speak, he did so slowly.

"It's a game."

"A GAME?!" Ginny and Malfoy shouted at the same time, ignoring the fact that Oliver looked just a little pale.

"Rules and Regulations set up by Voldemort." That shut them up. Oliver continued. "If each team makes it to a certain point following You-Know-Who's clues," Ginny giggled at the rhyming. "then it should lead us to a kidnapped girl."

"Who?" Ginny asked, curious.

"Selena Riafel Malfoy..."

Ginny turned to Draco, who was looking extremely angry and annoyed and asked, "Relation?" Oliver answered for him.

"Younger sister... only 2. She was stolen a few weeks ago by You-Know-Who's deatheaters and a day afterward, instructions for the game were nailed to the Malfoy Mansion's door. There are two teams. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are the first with a head start. Harry was the one to pick to the second team. Someone he loved," Oliver looked to Ginny, who had a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. "someone he hated," He looked to Draco, who scowled. "and someone he looked up to!" He seemed to boast, feeling rather important and loved. Not that he didn't normally... "So we're going on a little trip. The first clue is leading us to America. Anyone here know how to buy a Muggle Airplane ticket? The instructions were to not come by broom or we'd be 'shot down'."

He was greeted with only blank stares and disbelief. Oliver sighed as the limosine came to a stop and the Minister, looking especially grim, stepped out and headed towards the airport ahead of the trio.

"This is going to be a long week," Oliver breathed, patting his pocket where the "game rules" lay folded and grabbing his bag before heading towards what he hoped and prayed wouldn't be his demise.


unless you haven't heard, triton is a group of three authors (read the bio) and we're hoping to write a really romancy, action, funny fic for everyone to enjoy. just a note: this rating is not going to go any higher than pg-13. hey, we can't help it. we're just good like that. ^_^ \\//

this is mashaka, signing out!