Title: Guilty By Association
Author: Tiny Q
E-Mail: one_legged_lesbian_seagull@hotmail.com
A/N: Hey all! Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out but I have been having a lot of trouble with it. Glares pointedly at Ginny and Draco who refused to get into Tiny Q's head ~sigh~ So go easy on me when you read this, I personally don't much care for it, but it had to be done. I don't know when the part after this will come out cause my dad thinks I spend to much time on the computer. Grrr. Oh well! Hope you enjoy it!
Guilty By Association
Chapter 10
Illegal Entry
"I just sent the plan over to Wallski," Harry Potter said as he reentered the room his best friend, Ron, was staying in. If Dumbledore had been right, as he usually was, they only had three days to get Hermione out of the presence of evil, namely Voldemort, before irreparable damage would be caused to her child.
They had created a plan to take Voldemort down in one big swoop: The Aurors would take on the Death Eaters, Dumbledore would take on Voldemort and all the while, He, Ginny, Tabitha and Malfoy would rescue Hermione. Dumbledore had left a while before to inform the resistance at Hogwarts.
Since Hedwig still had not returned from her mission to Remus and Sirius, Harry had had to go back to the Bureau and use Pigwidgeon. He had gotten the scare of his life when he realized that someone was in the building, but had been extremely relieved to find out that it was only Samantha returning from her retreat. She was still fuming at him when he left because she had wanted to scare the shit out of them all latter that morning.
"When do you think he will get back to us by?" Ginny asked from her seat beside Ron's bed. Harry sighed and plopped into a chair opposite the bed of her.
"Knowing Wallski? Tomorrow." Harry glanced around the room. "Where did Dudley and Malfoy go?" He heard Ginny snort.
"They both left a while back to see if the cafeteria was open," she explained.
Ron let out a dry laugh. "Probably planning how to get you all captured in one nice trap."
Harry looked at him sharply then turned his gaze to Ginny. "I assume you told him then?" She nodded.
"Not that much of a surprise," Ron scoffed. "Look at how he treated you when he was young." He looked Harry straight in the eye. "Same goes for Malfoy."
"You think Malfoy's in on this?" Harry asked Ron a little surprised. He had never really given the idea much thought, yet he had thought about it that first night, when Ginny and Malfoy had been chasing after the Death Eater on the broom. Yet after spending the past week and a half with him he was beginning to sense a change in the blond man's disposition. "How? And why? He was disowned and nearly killed by his father before Ginny found him."
"So the arrogant bastard has no family," Ron said, though his voice didn't seem as assured. 'I think I know someone else who is arrogant,' Harry thought with a mental grin. "And that can't get rid of a Dark Mark. Look at Snape."
"He doesn't have one," Ginny said quietly from across the bed.
"How do you know?" Ron asked skeptically.
"I saw," she said simply, avoiding his eyes.
"You-" Ron made a strange noise in his throat. "You and him- You're not-" he made another squeak. "No!"
"Ron," Ginny said smoothly, glancing wearily at Harry. "It's nothing like that. He was hurt, so I helped him. End of story." 'Yeah,' Harry thought, 'You missed out the little details like he's saved you too and watches you while you sleep. No big deal right?' He sighed and looked at Ron's red face.
"You what?" Ron said in a barely controlled voice. "You could have let him die and rid the world of him. But you helped him?! Are you insane?!"
"Ron!" Ginny said sharply in a voice that reminded Harry of Mrs. Weasley. "I'm a doctor. It is what I do! Hippocratic oath and all?"
"You're not a doctor yet, Gin," Ron growled. "You could have ignored that damned oath." Harry sighed. It was good to see Ron getting back to normal. Yet somehow it had been so nice when he had been unconscious. He slapped himself mentally for thinking it. He glanced at Ginny's hands which were covered in gauze. She still hadn't done anything with them.
"Gin," he started, "Your hands . . ."
"Are fine," she said firmly. Then she glanced over at Ron. "Do you know what he is planning on doing?" she asked Harry. He shrugged and she continued. "He plans on keeping an eye on Dudley while we're gone." Harry snapped his head to look at his bed ridden friend.
"Ron. You're in no condition to-"
"No Harry," Ron interrupted. "If he is working for You-Know-Who, then I sure as hell am not going to let him get any of you."
"Well at least let us get Snape over here then, just in case," Ginny insisted.
The door opened and the three of them stopped talking and turned to watch as Dudley and Malfoy walked in. They both had dark looks on their faces and Harry looked at Dudley expectantly.
"Closed," he said simply and plopped heavily back in a chair lining the wall across for the foot of Ron's bed. Malfoy remained silent and took the seat next to him. He was glaring between Harry, Ron and Ginny. After a moment he shook his head and began to examine his nails.
Ron sent Harry a skeptical look with eyebrows raised. Harry shrugged his shoulders. He glanced back over at the blond man and felt a pang of sympathy. 'He has no one,' he realized. 'No family. Probably no friends either. Not even a job.' Then he growled at himself, 'He's still a Malfoy.'
A few hours latter Ron had fallen asleep atop his multiple pillows and Ginny was dozing in her chair with her head resting on the bed. Harry looked her over. She was lovely. He didn't know why he didn't realize it before. 'Probably because she is like the sister you never had you git,' a voice in his head told him. He tended to agree.
He glanced over at Malfoy who had also fallen asleep. He was resting his head back against the wall and had his arms crossed over his chest. Harry's eyes drifted to Dudley who was looking at him with an impassive look. Harry simply stared back. Somehow he just couldn't see his cousin as a mole. Sure he had been an ass when he was young and still was sometimes, but he was loyal. 'The question is to who,' a voice in his head said. 'Voldemort or you?' He hopped it was the latter.
They stayed like this for several minutes, not breaking eye contact, until there was the distinctive "pop" of someone Apparating. Harry broke his gaze away from his cousin and glanced behind him, expecting to see Dumbledore. He took a double take when he realized it was Seamus Finnigan who stood before him, wearing a depressed look. 'Hmm,' Harry thought, 'Nothing explo-" Seamus sneezed and the glass beside Ron's bed shattered. Everyone in the room woke up with a start. Malfoy reaching for his wand.
"Damn," the man swore. "Sorry about that."
"It's alright," Ron said groggily as Ginny brushed glass from the sheets with bleary eyes. Harry glanced down at his watch. It was three o'clock. It seemed he had lost track of time once again. 'This is getting to be a bad habit.'
"Good to see you awake," Seamus said to Ron with a smile.
"It's good to be awake," Ron said cheerfully, surprising Harry who was used to Ron biting people's heads off in the morning. Seamus seemed to remember by the mild surprise on his face. He glanced around the room and his eyes came to rest on Malfoy.
"You found him," he said.
"Technically, he found us," Ginny said and Harry saw her shoot a glance in Malfoy's direction. Malfoy simply looked up at Seamus with a mildly interested look.
"I have been wanting to talk to you, Draco," Seamus said, looking the blond straight in the eye. "But I don't have time right now though." He turned to face Harry. "Harry," he started. "I'm sorry. Wallski doesn't like your plan. He says it's too easy and that we don't have enough resources after that attack. We lost thirty people you know? That's a half of us all." Harry stared at him numbly.
"So he sent you here to rub it in our faces?" he asked.
"No," he responded quietly. "I volunteered. I figured it would be better coming from me rather than some stranger. I know how much Hermione means to you. To you all."
Harry sighed. So this was it. They finally found her and their plan is stopped short by some power tripping git.
"So what are you going to do?" Seamus asked in a guilty voice.
"Get her out ourselves," Harry said looking around the room. Everyone nodded. "We'll just get her out quietly. We will leave Voldemort to Wallski once he wakes up. I don't think they are going to be jumping hideouts anytime soon."
"Is there anyway I can help?" Seamus asked.
"Actually," Ginny said quietly. "I think there is . . ."
~*~
That evening, just after nightfall, Ginny found herself on a broom flying along side Harry, Tabitha and Malfoy. They had spent the whole day planning and re-planning the perfect strategy to get Hermione safely out of Voldemort's clutches. Harry had even managed to get a floor plan for the Jackson building during the short period of time.
Ron had spent a good four hours examining it until he declared that the best way to gain access would be through the roof. Once in, they were to split into two teams and search the eight stories of office space level by level until one group would find something. That was where the twins came in.
After they had devised the plan they went to the Weasley twins' joke shop and received a large assortment of new technology that the two had devised since the Bureau's last job. Most of the items they had received were spliced with bits of muggle technology so, as Fred had claimed, they had less of chance of being detected by magic detection spells. Four packs had been assembled, one now strapped firmly onto Ginny's back.
Their next problem had been as to whether or not there was still Anthrax located in the building, since that was why the muggles had quarantined the building in the first place. George had come up with an answer to that one by saying that if the chemical was still in there, the Death Eaters would all be dead by now. 'Maybe that was why we haven't heard anything for a while,' Ginny had thought. Just to be safe, each of them received a magical scanner that would scan the air and beep if anything dangerous was about. This was placed snuggly in Ginny's cloak's breast-pocket.
Their final dilemma had been what to do with Ron and Dudley. Ginny and Harry had decided to be on the safe side and not take Dudley with them, just in case. And since Ron was being stubborn, as he always was, they told Dudley to look after Ron while they were gone and make sure that he didn't try anything stupid like come after them. That took care of Ron. Ginny had got the idea to have Seamus watch Harry's cousin and to take whatever means necessary if things went bad. Ginny still had a bad feeling about leaving the three of them alone together.
"This is it," Harry said, interrupting Ginny's thoughts and breaking the silence they had flown with since they had left the Bureau. Ginny nodded her head and pulled her wand out of her cloak. To her right she saw Malfoy do the same. They were to blast anything that could pose a threat while Tabitha and Harry secured the perimeter and got access into the building.
With a nod of ready from both Ginny and Malfoy, Harry nodded and motioned for them to go down. It didn't take Ginny long to break through the clouds, Malfoy right behind her. She glanced around and saw that the building and the streets surrounding were deserted. She glanced at Malfoy, he didn't seem to see anything either.
A few moments latter, Harry and Tabitha broke through the clouds and flew past them, down to the roof. Malfoy nodded to her and they followed them down, ever weary for something unusual.
Harry and Tabitha went instantly to the door that would lead them down into the building. Ginny looked around as Harry took off his pack, removed something and began to pick the lock on the door. They had decided to use as little magic as possible during the entire operation just to be safe. There was a soft click from behind the door and Ginny assumed that Harry had gotten the door open. After replacing his pack he stepped back and Tabitha cautiously opened the door.
The hall was dark yet Ginny could see dim light coming up from what she assumed to be the bottom of the door at the end of the stairs. Ginny gripped her wand harder as though it might try to jump away from her. 'This is it,' she thought and nodded at Harry. He nodded in return and gave her a reassuring smile before he entered the building. Ginny went next with one final glance around the roof. Malfoy followed close behind her with Tabitha taking up the rear.
There was a sudden rush of dim light as Harry opened the door at the bottom of the stairs. The hall beyond the door was deserted and looked as though it had been that way for quite some time. There were papers and cardboard boxes scattered all across the floor, all of which were covered in a thick layer of dust. There was a selection of doors down the hall in either direction, the doorknobs were also covered in dust.
"They must not use this level," Harry said as they all gathered around him.
"What gives you that idea," Malfoy scoffed. Ginny looked at him sharply while Harry simply gave him the finger.
"Anyway," Harry said, ignoring Malfoy. "Remember to use the communicators the twins gave us if anything happens or if you find Hermione. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Tabitha, you're with me."
Ginny's heart skipped a beat. 'I'm with Malfoy?' she asked herself. 'Why didn't I see that one coming?' She sent Harry a nasty look before glancing at Malfoy. He was looking at her with his usual amused sneer. 'Great,' she sighed mentally. Tabitha also had a nasty look on her face, though hers was directed at Ginny, which she chose to ignore.
"You two check this level, we'll check the one below it. After you done this one, check the one below ours and we'll check the one bellow that. Alright?" Harry asked. Ginny nodded and he turned back towards the stairwell. Tabitha paused a moment, still sending Ginny an icy glare, then she gave a small smile and turned to follow Harry. Her long, blond hair swishing behind her. 'What the hell is her problem lately?' Ginny asked herself then turned and found herself face to face with a grinning Malfoy. 'Oh. Right.'
"Shall we?" he asked, offering his arm. She stared at him. 'He can't be serious.' Shaking her head in disgust, Ginny brushed past him and started down the hall to her left. She heard Malfoy laugh from behind her then heard his footsteps following her. 'This is going to be a long night.'
Ginny was surprised that it didn't take very long to check the entire level. It seemed to be completely deserted, and the one door they had opened had been deserted as well. She had had the idea that this would take forever since the building seemed so large from the outside. Yet they soon found themselves back at the stairwell that ran through the center of the renovated section of the building. Ron had said that the original stairs had been in a bad position to expand on and the architects had decided to put them in the center rather than the southwest corner like the ones on the bottom.
With a glance behind her in Malfoy's direction, Ginny headed down the stairs, past the level Harry and Tabitha had gone to and entered the level bellow it. As she entered the hall, Ginny was struck by the similarity between this hall and the deserted one they had been in before. There was just as much undisturbed dust covering the floor and doorknobs.
"I don't like this," Malfoy said, breaking the silence they had walked with for the past two halls.
"What's not to like?" Ginny asked sarcastically. "Dust and abandonment. Seems about right for Death Eaters."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Malfoy demanded, turning to look at her as they continued to walk.
"Well . . ." Ginny started, she couldn't figure out why she was saying this, it had been on her mind for a while but she never dared utter it. Yet here she was, continuing. "You grew up around Death Eaters, right? You should be used to this." Malfoy stopped suddenly and turned to face her, anger blazing in his eyes. 'Why did I say that?' she wondered. She felt nervousness begin to rise up in her chest. 'I have never seen Malfoy look so angry.'
"Why," Malfoy growled, narrowing his eyes. "Does every one believe that?" He took a step towards her, she held her ground.
"It's the way you act," Ginny said quietly, not looking away from his angry eyes, the words simply flowing before she had a chance to think them over. "The way you have always acted. Draco Malfoy, the arrogant bastard who has gotten everything he has ever wanted and knows it. And perhaps it is the way you treat people." Something flashed in his eyes behind the anger and he took another menacing step towards her. Still Ginny kept eye contact and stood her ground.
"From what I've heard," Malfoy said in a low, dangerous voice, "That's the way you like your men. So you can supposedly find the good in them." Ginny looked at him thunderstruck. 'Where did he hear that? That's not tr-' She stopped thinking it, realizing that her last three boyfriends had all been excessively large assholes. Not that she was about to admit that to him. Anger of her own began to blaze in her eyes.
"How dare you," she hissed. He took another step towards her. He was now inches from her.
"I dare because I am Draco Malfoy. Now tell me," he leant towards her. Ginny, despite herself, took a hasty step backwards. She had never thought him to be much of a threat but he did have a good four inches over her. He followed her until she felt her back press into her pack as it hit the wall. He grinned wickedly and placed both his hands on the wall beside her shoulders. Trapping her. "Tell me," he started again. "Where is the good in me? Do you see it?" He leant towards Ginny's face until their noses were millimeters apart, never breaking eye contact.
Ginny, having nothing better to do, looked deeper into his blue-grey eyes and let out a silent gasp. She had never seen so much hurt and anger and fear in a person's eyes before. And there was something else in there that she just couldn't place. 'Merlin,' she thought weakly. 'I never realized . . .' She continued to stare into his eyes, feeling his breath on her face.
After spending almost two weeks bickering with the man, she had never taken into consideration what was going through his mind. The thought scared her for that was usually one of the first things she took into consideration. The thought scared her even more than Malfoy's sudden violent outburst. She knew he was a Malfoy, but she never expected this from him. She was actually becoming quite fond of who he was, and was only just realizing this. For this reason, among others she could not fathom, she couldn't bring herself to do anything to get away. Her wand resting useless in her right hand.
"This isn't you," she whispered finally.
"And how do you know?" Malfoy demanded. "How do you know I haven't just been acting? Tricking you all to believe I am good."
"Because," Ginny said quietly, finally looking away from his eyes for the first time in the entire conversation. "You've changed. The old Draco never would have put up with me, even if he was trying to trick me. I have heard enough stories about you to know that much." Mentally she gasped, 'Draco? Since when is it Draco?' His demeanor seemed to change instantly, as though a weight had just been lifted from his shoulders.
"I am glad you finally realize that, Weasley," he said in a much gentler tone than before. 'Yeah, even if it took the old Draco Malfoy to force me to realize it," she thought bitterly to herself, simply standing there, waiting for him to step back. He didn't.
"Ginny," he said softly and she gasped in surprise. 'He's never called me that before.' She looked up into his once angry eyes to see them filled with the emotion that had been in there before. She recognized it as the look that was in Harry's eyes when she looked into his. Or her brother's or Hermione's or her parents'. Just a more intense version of it.
Love.
She wasn't use to it coming from men. Especially not men like Malfoy. 'Draco,' she corrected herself. It was a nice change. 'A very nice change,' she thought with a smile. After a moment she realized that he was talking.
"Don't move," he said softly and she felt his hands move from the wall onto her and saw his eyes slide slowly shut. Without realizing it, hers did the same. Time seemed to slow as though she was in a universe all her own, with Draco being it's only purpose. She lent forward slightly.
"Beep Beep! Beep Beep!" something suddenly screeched. For an instant Ginny thought it was the air scanner, but after a moment she realized the sound was coming from the bag on her back. She snapped her eyes open and looked into the frustrated eyes of Draco Malfoy.
"Damn," he swore under his breath. Ginny felt disappointment burn inside her as she gently broke away from him, took off the pack and began to rummage around for the source of the noise that had continued to beep. It was the communicator the twins had given each of them.
'I still think it looks like a make-up compact,' she thought as she flipped open the sliver cover to reveal the dual screens on both the top and bottom plate. It instantly blinked to life and projected the anxious face of Harry Potter on the top half.
"Gin," he said, excitement ringing in his voice. Her heart skipped a beat. "Come down to the level bellow you. I think we found something!"
"Alright," she said softly. 'What if it's her?' she thought excitedly. She glanced at Draco who seemed to be thinking alone the same lines. She looked back into the small screen.
"Ginny," Harry said seriously after she had returned her attention to him. "Are you alright? You're all red in the face." Ginny felt her face burn redder. She tried to ignore Draco who was smirking at her.
"I'm fine," she said hastily. "We'll be down there in a few minutes. Anything we should look out for?"
"Nope," he responded.
"Kay, see you." With that she snapped the object shut and shoved it into her pocket with vehemence. Closing the back, she stood up and kept it in hand. She glanced at the man beside her then proceeded to walk past him. "Come o-" she started but was cut off by his hand over her mouth. She felt is arm snake around her waist and pull her back against his firm chest.
"Someone's coming," he said in a whisper into her ear. She strained her ears but couldn't hear anything. "This way," he said, dropping his hands from her and grabbing her right and with his left. He pulled her down a darkened hall to their right and after a moment he stopped and pulled her against the wall, out of sight from the hall they had been in before. She could just make out his outline which was staring towards the end of the hall. She soon began to look as well.
Sure enough, two people dressed in black cloaks walked down the hall they had just been in. They paused and looked down the hall that they were in and Ginny caught her breath. One of them shook their head and they both traveled out of view.
"Come on," Draco whispered after a moment and pulled her back the way they had came. She hadn't even realized he was still holding her hand. At the mouth of the hall they both looked cautiously around for the two cloaked figures but they were nowhere to be seen.
The trek to the stairs was surprisingly quick and Ginny thanked her lucky stars that it was deserted. The stairs were deserted as well and the two of them quickly made their way down to the level bellow. Upon entering this hall Ginny realized with a jolt that there was no dust on this floor like there was in the other two levels.
"Where are they?" Draco asked her quietly as they moved down the hall into a darkened alcove. Ginny reached into her pocket and pulled out the communicator and flipped it open. It once again blinked to life but instead of looking at the top screen she looked at the bottom. There was a black screen with green grid marks and four dots on it. One of the dots was labeled 'Ginny' another said 'Malfoy', while the final two said 'Harry' and 'Tabitha'.
"I think they are in the next hall over," she whispered.
"You think?" he asked skeptically.
"You read it then," she hissed, but he simply walked out into the hall and headed down it. Sighing she followed him, keeping an eye on the little screen and their now moving dots. "Turn right," she said softly and followed him around the corner. After a few minutes she stopped. "In here," she said pointing to a door. There was no dust on the handle and there was also no sound coming from within.
"You sure?" he asked her, and she nodded. He shrugged and opened the door. The room inside was pitch black. Reaching behind her, Ginny grabbed a muggle flash light that was tucked into a side pocket of her pack. She flicked it on and took a cautious step forward, feeling Draco's presence right behind her.
"Harry?" she called tentatively, shuffling her feet and waving the light around. It didn't seem to be helping for it only gave her a view of about two feet in front of her. 'I have a real bad feeling about this,' she thought.
"Gin! Get ou-" she heard Harry cry out before he seemed to be muffled by something.
"Accio!" someone in the darkness screamed and Ginny felt the flash light being ripped from her grasp. The door behind them slammed shut and she was plunged into darkness.
"Lum-" she heard Draco start but was cut off by another Accio and Ginny felt her own wand fly away as well. She felt him step closer to her and she reached back to take his hand.
"There are the other two," an oddly familiar voice said loudly. "Get them." A light suddenly went on and Ginny found herself in a room with several Death Eaters before her. All dressed in Black cloaks. She turned to her right.
"YOU!" she gasped in horror.
~*~
A/N: Well yes, that's it for now! Thank you to: Stargazer, dinky, Verena Gruen, Chained Dove, Seal, j-belletimes 2(Linkin Park FOREVER!), Cloudzi, Neca, pinkisk panther now known as skyblupink, Nala /Ethereal, Chained Raven(I am never looking in my mailbox again. Just so you know.), Amanda Mancini(Edmonton actually. I just saw the video on Much Music. Great stuff.)! Thankies!
