Ginny's heart soared as she walked away from the pink prison that had held her for the past month. It was the first time she had stepped out of it since Malfoy had brought her there and it all seemed too good to be true. She vowed the instant the door shut quietly behind her that she would never go back into that horrid room. In a few seconds she was at Lucius' study door. Immediately she recognized the room as the first one she had been kept in when Mr. Malfoy had kidnapped her. The irony of the study also being the means of her escape didn't surpass Ginny, but she didn't feel she had the time to marvel at it. Slowly she crept towards the fireplace, careful not to make a sound that any of the house elves or worse, Narcissa Malfoy could hear. Ginny stood in the glow of the flickering fire and reached for the nearest container. Taking off the lid, she looked down expecting to see sparkling floo powder, except; there wasn't any floo powder in that jar, or was there in any other of the various jars and containers she could find within the study. In the time it took her to check over every inch of the study twice, she had grown extremely frantic. What was she supposed to do now? She could go back into the safety of her room to plan something else and Draco would never even know that she had left. However, the thought of going back into that awful room and having to act so stupid again was almost enough to make her physically sick. No, she vowed not to go back and she wouldn't! But what was she going to do? Oh, how she wished she had thought of asking Harry to bring her some floo excess powder. She had just assumed the Malfoys would keep it near the fireplace like any other normal Wizarding family would. This was one detail she had forgotten to check. One detail and her whole plan was falling through her fingertips like a handful of sand at the beach. Standing there in the middle of the study left her feeling very exposed. She desperately wished she had Harry's Invisibility cloak at the moment, after all what would Mrs. Malfoy do if she saw her son's present standing there right by her fastest route out of the house. She hated to think what Draco would do if he heard she tried to escape. Involuntarily, her body shuddered as she thought of the pain she would have to endure before Draco would feel powerful again. She was just turning around so she could find some other means of escape when she heard something that made her stomach drop out. Two voices, and one of them was distinctly Draco's.

"Visit the girl?" the other was saying, "Aren't you a bit tired?"

"No that alertness potion you gave me still hasn't worn off." Despite her fear, two things now registered. The first and decidedly least important was where Draco was getting all his energy from, and the second, much more important idea was to run, get out, HIDE. She stopped and listened closely, the voices weren't approaching or fading so she assumed they were stationary, and by the muffled sound of them, probably behind closed doors. Praying that her predictions were right and they wouldn't be able to see her, she slightly stuck her head out of the door and looked up and down the hall, then ran as fast yet as quietly in the opposite direction of her room. When she heard a door start to creak open she dashed quickly into the closest room. It was dark and when she looked up the night sky was twinkling above her, but right now she didn't have the time to admire the wonders of the Malfoy Manor. Right now she needed a nice and dark corner to crawl into and think of a new plan.

~

Draco left his father still in his new black robes and approached Ginny's door. He couldn't wait to see his blushing pet. 'Where have you been?' she would say, 'I've been so worried!' And he would smile at her, push her back onto the bed and take her. 'Perhaps,' he thought, 'tonight I could try something a bit more on the 'creative' side.' The only thing that had kept him at bay so far was the fact that he didn't think Ginny could handle it. He didn't want his pet to go all quiet and struggling on him again. Tonight though, with the memory of Amos Diggory's begging words as the power rushed through his arm still fresh in his mind, he actually felt like overpowering a struggling Ginny. Besides, he was leaving for school in two days time, so Ginny's mind and body would have months to recover from it.

"Ginny!" he called pleasantly upon opening the door. No answer. "Ginny?" he called curiously again 'She must be asleep,' he thought, but one glance at the bed revealed that a sleeping Ginny could not be between the perfectly made sheets. "Ginny!" he called more harshly than anything, this time checking the bathroom, only to find it to was also empty.

~

In the library Ginny could hear Draco calling her name and knew it was only a mater of time before he alerted Mr. Malfoy. That terrified her beyond all-else. Draco she knew how to handle. It may take her a few nights of pain and a few frantic crying fits of apologies, but she firmly believed that if she were caught, by the time he went back to school she could win back her lost freedom. She doubted Mr. Malfoy though, would fall for such games. He was no longer disillusioned by a silly spoiled childhood where everyone appeared to love him. He knew the real world and could no doubt tell when a person was faking submission. She shudder, Mr. Malfoy was a Death Eater, her mind screamed, and certainly his kind would hurt her, abuse her, and would not care if she cried. She was scared, very scared actually.

~

Realization slowly dawned on Draco as he saw Ginny's empty room. She was gone, but how could that be possible? He didn't let her out of the room and the neither the servants nor elves would. That left out only one possibility. She had run away!

"Impossible!" he cried out loud, his mind not wanting to believe it. He ran to the door and put his hand to it. It was still warm, unless of course...

"Tepesco," he yelled the cooling charm, and again reached his hand to the door. It was indeed cool. The Exuro Captus charm he had placed on the door before bringing her down here was resistant to cooling charms. 'That conniving little Weasel had found a way to take the charm off and knew enough to put a warming charm on the door,' his mind screamed. Rage built up inside him as wheels began to turn. Ginny had been fooling him, that was for sure, but for how long? Was it a day or two? One, two weeks? Maybe even three? Everything had been an act. How many climaxes had she faked? How many chess games had she thrown? How many times had she said 'I've missed you!' and been planning on leaving? He felt his body began to shake. Nobody, nobody did this to him. He would find the little red haired whore, and he would torture her, put a muting charm on that lying little mouth of hers and lock her in the dungeons after he'd had his fun

"FATHER," he called fleeing the room, "FATHER! GINNY IS GONE. SHE RAN AWAY!!" he ran to Lucius study to find him already on his feet but still calm.

"Go alert the house elves and servants. Tell your mother too. Have her reinforce the locking charms on the gates. We must find her Draco." he said calmly still, "Go. Now!" he commanded, suddenly harsh. Draco didn't need to be told twice. He set off to the kitchens and staff quarters at a run. Lucius left a second later.

~

Ginny, who was now crouching in a corner of the library overheard the whole conversation and wisely decided she needed another hiding place, a dark corner couldn't hide her well enough. The giant bookcases across the room seemed a very promising hiding place. If she crouched just a few shelves from the ground her dark green robes would blend perfectly into the shadows. Fast and quiet as a cat she ran and found an appropriate shelf on the third bookcase, scrambling up the first few two foot shelves as quietly as she could. Only seconds after settling herself she heard Lucius steps pause in front of the library door.

~

Draco was sprinting down the halls heading towards the ground floor where the kitchens were. His anger and hate building with each step he took. Just wait until he got his hands on that girl. Oh she would regret ever fooling him. He burst into the kitchens.

"HEY!" he yelled and every eye, human or elf, looked his way, "My birthday present has escaped!" he yelled, "Keep your eyes open for it. Do NOT let a red headed girl get away if you see her. Trap her and then contact one of the family IMMEDIATELY. Anyone who willingly or unwillingly lets the girl go will be fired or clothed appropriately. Is that understood?" he bellowed. Every head nodded. Draco turned on his heels heading upstairs in search of his mother, black robes billowing out behind him.

~

Ginny listened as Lucius footsteps entered the library. She almost screamed as the bookcase began to move, but saw an opportunity. Once the third shelf touched the fourth she shimmied through the opening between the shelves onto the far side of the fourth. 'Now I'm safe,' she thought. Of course in the heat of the moment, it never occurred to her the shelves would move again and allow Lucius a glimpse of her new 'haven'. Thus, when the third shelf moved back to rest against the second revealing her once again she was unprepared to scramble onto the fifth and almost didn't make it. Once the fifth bookcase started she soon got the idea and grabbed hold of the fourth just before it went out of reach and crawled all the way through the dark tunnel of bookcases to the first shelf.

~

Lucius watched, eyes hawk like, as the massive bookcase parted for him. He didn't think the girl was in here, but it was worth checking.

"Ms. Weasley," he called menacingly, "Where are you?"

~

Ginny Froze at his voice: icy, threatening, dangerous.

"Come now," he said, "there's no sense in this game. We will find you Ms. Weasley, and if you come now we won't hurt you," he paused, "as much."

A sardonic chuckle.

Ginny quivered, he couldn't find her. He wouldn't!

"Come along!" She heard the voice going further and further from her.

~

Lucius reached the back of the library. He was right the girl wasn't in there.

~

Ginny began breathing again once she heard the footsteps completely fade from earshot. It didn't occur to her that, now that Lucius had checked the library it was probably the safest room in the house. The only thought she had was "Get Out." It seemed her heartbeat was repeating it, "Get out. Get out." She waited for the bookcases to part then scrambled away. Every running step she took yelled, "Get out. Get out." She rasped for breath, "Get out. Get out," the breaths reminded her. "GET OUT!" She fled down a long staircase. She needed to get down; on the ground floors there would be doors, exits. She rounded a corner and saw something that made her breath stop. Draco Malfoy, running towards her. Both stopped dead, forty feet from one another. Their eyes met. Ginny's face was horror-stricken, she knew it, but Draco looked positively delighted and almost hungry. This was not the same Draco Malfoy she faced in bed this morning. His eyes were different and he held himself differently. And then her mind registered what the robes he was wearing meant.

~

Draco watched her. There was his Birthday Present, and she looked more terrified than he supposed she would when facing Voldermort himself. Good. He continued to stare menacingly at her and slowly raised his wand so he could bind her, but then in a flash of red hair she regained her senses and turning on her heels ran around a corner before he could fire a spell.

~

Ginny ran sprinting in the other direction as fast as she could, not caring how much noise she made now. She had to get away from him, from The Death Eater. This was a new Draco, those cold eyes told it all. He wouldn't fall for her games. He would be cruel and unyielding. Now her footsteps, heart and breath sang, "Get Away, Hide. Get Away, Hide." She threw the door open to a random room, praying Draco would run right past her.

~

Draco ran after Ginny but stopped when he rounded the corner and saw the empty hallway in front of him. Ginny was here in this hallway. He knew it. What he knew about this hallway that Ginny didn't, was that, although neither of them could see it, there was an invisible barrier at the end of this hallway that would prevent her from going into the last three rooms. His father kept all his Dark Artifacts there; there was no way she could get through without a special amulet.

"Oh father," he yelled lazily "I believe I've found our little fugitive." He turned to face the first door, raised his wand and blew it to pieces with a thunderous BANG. He then stepped just a few passes inside, his boots crunching pieces of the shredded door.

~

Lucius heard his son calling and sat back. He would let Draco deal with her; he knew Draco could handle one unarmed Weasley.

~

"Ginny my pet. Are you here?" he called quietly. He waved his wand to ignite the torches, bathing the room in light. "Ostendo," he called and every closet, door, and possible hiding place flew open, revealing anything that could be hiding. Seeing this room was empty he moved calmly onto the next. There was no need to rush Ginny was in this hallway. It was only a matter of minutes before he got his hands on her; he smiled slightly, oh how his hands would hurt her.

~

Ginny eased the door shut and turned to look at the room. In the center of the it was a big blue and green bed. She recognized it, but it took her a second to place it. Of course, her first night with Draco, this must be his room. She stood in the center trying to clear her mind of all the frantic worries and find somewhere to hide. Only when she heard a loud crash and footsteps, followed by Draco's voice calling, "Come out and play Ginny. You like games, I know you do" did she wake up from her stupor and scramble under the bed. She listened; heart pounding as Draco's steps came closer and closer down the hall. She could tell by the clatter that Draco was throwing open every cupboard open, she only prayed he wouldn't remember the dust ruffle. Ginny heard the sickening pattern in the room next door. Pause, Bang, Footsteps, Calling, Clatter. All too soon she heard Draco's footsteps pause in front of her door. Despite herself, she jumped when the door was blasted apart. He took a few steps in, called out, "I'm only wondering where you are my little red-haired present, then muttered a charm and everything was thrown open. She let out a whimper, for he had remembered the dust ruffle. As Draco's eyes scanned the room, it looked for a moment as if she wouldn't be discovered. Ginny couldn't breathe, wouldn't breathe. Draco's gray eyes fell on her suddenly, a sardonic smile curled onto his face.

"Hello Ginny," he said and started walking towards her. He bent down so he could see her, "Why Ginny, I'm so glad I've found you."

She whimpered, never before had that cool collected drawl unnerved her so much.

"Come out Ginny. Come on," he cooed as if coxing a kitten out of a tree. She knew she was trapped but her adrenaline wouldn't let her give up. She had to try. She scrambled backwards from under the bed and ran for the door.

Draco gave a tremendous yell and ran after her. He caught her arm and threw her on the ground. Ginny yelped as she landed on her backside with a thud but immediately started to crawl backwards away from the advancing Draco.

"You've been a very naughty girl Ginny," he said his eyes narrowing. "You will pay for this. I think we have a nice cold room in the dungeons just waiting to be occupied by a little whore like yourself. How does that sound my sweet?"

Another whimper escaped her lips as she finally got to her feet.

"Are you scared?" he drawled menacingly advancing on her. She nodded but scared didn't even begin to describe it. She was petrified. She could see herself locked in the dungeons without company or light, begging Mr. Malfoy for food. This was her last chance. She had to get out now.

"You should be scared Ginny," he said. Her back was against the wall. One of Draco's hands was right by her head and the other was clutching his wand by his side.

"No," she sobbed, "No Draco I'm sorry. My family, I just wanted to see my family," she sobbed wildly, her eyes searching for a means of escape. Even if she could get his wand she knew she would never be able to get out of the manor with Mr. Malfoy alerted.

"Do you know what I'm going to do you?" he went on, smiling and ignoring her sobs. Draco was enjoying her tears, "I'm going to hurt you Ginny. You will experience pain and things your mind cannot comprehend." But Ginny had stopped listening. She had spotted her way out. There, leaning against the bed was a brand new Firebolt. With a Firebolt, she could make her escape, but before she was able to act Draco had placed one hand firmly on her breast, the other still clutching his wand. She let out a surprised yelp of pain as he squeezed, hard. Another call escaped her lips as she felt his mouth on the nape of her neck. He bit down with precision and Ginny could feel that he had drawn blood. It took her a second to find her bearings. She could do this but she only had one chance and it had to be done perfectly. Ginny let her hands flicker down his body, hoping that they seemed terrified enough so as not to reveal their real, seeking purpose. She had to get her hand right by his wand.

~

Draco listened to Ginny's yelps of pain. It was music to his ears. If only she knew what was coming. The pain she was feeling now was tolerable, admittedly uncomfortable but she could handle it. During what he had in store for her, she would wish she were dead, beg for him to ease her pain and rue the day she ever played a game with him. He smiled against her neck, which now had a row of bite marks, as he felt her little fingers flutter down his body. After tonight he would lock in the dungeons. A four-month stint in the rotting cellars of the manor ought to serve her right. He shoved her harder up against the wall. Oh how he loved the feeling of his muscular body squishing her soft one.

~

She needed to act now; he was starting to get closer. It was now or never. She needed to distract him for a split second.

"HARRY! YOU CAME!" she yelled out. She knew he would only faze him for the briefest instants but that was all she needed. As Draco's attention was diverted she frantically pushed him away just a few inches then brought her knee up to strike him where she knew it would hurt and simultaneously grabbed his wand. The whole process took but one second, so when Ginny aimed his wand at him and called out "STUPEFY," she doubted he ever knew what happened.

With a wave of the wand she quietly shut and locked the door. Quickly, she checked Malfoy's pockets and drew his moneybag. A look inside revealed 20 galleons and 4 sickles. Retrieving his Firebolt she rushed for the window. Remembering the charms on both Mr. Malfoy's study window and her own, she concentrated. When Ginny had asked him to open it, Draco had only waved his wand at it and it had popped open with a click. Now, focusing on the latch she waved the wand. The window opened and Ginny actually gave a small jump of joy. She shakily mounted the broom, for she had never been one for flying, and soared out of the window. As the warm August air rushed through her hair and past her cheeks, she didn't think she'd felt such an overwhelming mix of joy, relief, and accomplishment in her entire life.