The Weasleys froze upon hearing the voice. It couldn't be! No one dared believe it until a redheaded figure emerged from the foyer into the kitchen.
~
Draco Malfoy landed with ease just outside the Manor's back door.
"Father," he called, "I just saw Ginny getting on the Knight Bus! I had no way to stop her."
"Excuse me?" His father said running down the stairs, his robes out behind them. Only then did Draco realize the magnitude of his error, his father never ran. Lucius was always cool and composed. Draco had never seen him be anything else.
"I, uh, she, Knight Bus," he stuttered looking up at his father's infuriated face.
"What?" he said calmly, then lost of his composure, "HOW COULD YOU LET HER GET AWAY?!"
"She was on the bus! All I saw was the tale end of her robes!" he desperately cried then proceeded to back up a few steps; he had never seen his father so livid.
"How could you make such a colossal error Draco?" asked a once again calm Lucius in a deadly icy voice.
"I couldn't have stopped her if I tried!" Draco said in panic.
"Did you try?"
"Of course!" Draco lied.
"Liar," Lucius spat.
"I did!"
"No not lie to me Draco. I don't have time for these silly games."
"I uhhh-uhhh," Draco stuttered.
"Well I suppose it doesn't matter, the point is she got away."
"Let me hel-"
"NO," Lucius said, "You've done enough!"
"Father,"
"SILENCE. Now I might be able to fix this if you stay silent for once and let me think." Draco narrowed his eyes and watched his Father. Okay so he had let the girl escape and then let her get away a second time but he didn't know what to do. His father had never let him do anything and now he was expecting him to formulate plans. "Alright," Lucius finally said, "I have a plan. I'm first going to hail the Knight Bus, and perform a memory charm on the conductor. And first thing tomorrow morning I'm going to the Ministry to tell them that you saw Ginny wandering around lost and put her on the Knight Bus home, but unfortunately the girl had been placed under a Confundus Charm. I'll tell them this charm causes her to believe the first wizard she sees is the one who kidnapped her. This wizard is apparently you my son. I'm going to say you were flying over the muggle settlement so you didn't go right to the ministry because you thought you'd get in trouble for your misdemeanor. I'll insist that you pay the fine and we'll be in the clear. If Arthur says anything he'll look like a babbling fool who easily fell for a Confundus charm.
"It's a good plan father," Draco said.
"Of course it is. Now I'm going to hail the Knight Bus. You are to stay here at the manor. Understood?"
"Yes Father," Draco said quietly looking down.
"Good," Lucius nodded, "Now I suggest you retire to your room. You have to leave tomorrow for the train at eleven."
"Uh-huh," Draco said dejectedly and watched as his father Disapparated with pop, presumably to just outside the Manor to hail the Knight Bus. Dragging his Nimbus 2001 listlessly behind him, he started up to his room.
~
"Hello?" Ginny called into the Burrow, "Is-is anyone home?" she said. Tears were now welling up in her eyes. Partly because she feared no one was home but mostly because she was just so glad to be home. She walked down the foyer and into the kitchen to find the entire Weasley family along with Hermione and Harry starring right at her, a few of them even had their mouths hanging open. "Umm, hi," she said quietly clutching the wall for support, "I-I" she paused, "I made it!" she wailed and broke down into tremendous sobs. That was all it took the Weasleys to get over the their shock and in a sudden scrapping of chairs and scrambling of feet, Ginny was wrapped in dozens of arms holding her closely and a multitude of voices telling her not to cry.
"My baby!!" Molly who was holding her closest sobbed, "My baby is home!!!" and she hugged Ginny close to her chest. "Don't cry Ginny, you're home now. Everything will be okay," she cooed. Which only caused Ginny a fresh wave of emotions accompanied by more tears. Someone finally got the sense to see that Ginny needed to sit and she was guided to a chair where she sat balling while everyone stood above her. She knew this wasn't what her family had expected her to be like at her homecoming, and honestly, she also thought her return would bring nothing but smiles, but she couldn't help it. She was so overridden with emotion about being home, being in her mother loving arms, and relief that there was no Malfoy waiting for her with those horrible hands and a cold sneer.
"You're home now Ginny," Harry spoke up, "no one is going to let Malfoy hurt you ever again."
"It's not, not that," she wailed, "I'm just," hiccup, "so happy to be h-home," and a fresh wave of emotional sobs fell.
"There there," Arthur said gently patting her back, "just let it all out Sweetheart. You're safe. We're so happy you're home." he said. Ginny cried harder. She was just so relieved to be home.
~
Only ten minutes after dropping Ginny off, the Knight Bus was hailed back to York.
"Welcome to the Knigh-" Stan began but quickly stopped when he saw their potential passenger pointing a wand straight at his temple.
"Who else was on the bus when you picked up the Weasley girl?"
"No-no one," Stan stuttered.
"Liar!" Lucius said jabbing the wand at him.
"Honestly!" Stan said, "I'm not gonna lie to ya when you've got a wand pointed right at me!"
"Fine, Obliviate," Lucius said, "you never saw the Weasley girl, I just accidentally hailed you here.
"Sir," Stan said suddenly, "We have business to attend to, I would appreciate it if you would only call when you are truly in trouble."
"Of course!" Lucius said gaily, "I'm terribly sorry, let me pay you for your troubles," and he dropped a galleon in Stan's hand.
"Why thank you," Stan said and got back onto the bus. With a loud BANG the bus was gone and then with a pop Lucius was in his study once more. He needed to think about what he was going to tell the Ministry the following morning.
~
It took Ginny a good half an hour to calm down. Everyone in the house was anxious to hear her tale but no one wanted to be the first to ask. The odd combination of tension and relief was almost palpable.
"I want to go to the Ministry with you tomorrow dad," Ginny spoke quietly, "and tell them exactly what happened. I want both Draco and Lucius to pay for this."
"If that's what you want Ginny." Arthur said quietly.
"Yes," she nodded vigorously, "I've been planning on it since my first few days there."
"Okay, then that's what we'll do," Arthur agreed.
"I used magic to get out though. Escaping a kidnapper counts as an emergency right?"
"If that doesn't I don't know what does," Ron spoke up.
"To true," George agreed.
"I'll tell you all now," she said quietly, "How it started and how I got out, that is," she paused, "but nothing else. I can't, well, I just can't think of it."
"That's okay Ginny," Hermione said, "You just tell us whatever you feel comfortable telling."
Ginny nodded and began to tell them the whole tale beginning with turning over and finding Lucius hovering over her bed and ending with her escape and ride home on the Knight Bus. She left out any references to Draco touching her, but everyone understood what she meant when she said 'Draco visited' her. Even without the rape, the story was horrific, all the lonely desperation and having to act so dim-witted.
"I hate him," she finished, "I hate everything about him. I hope he gets a nice long kiss from the dementors, him and his horrid father."
"He will Ginny," Percy spoke up, "rape is a serious offence. The Ministry would never let anyone get away with it." Arthur glanced at his son. He wished he still had that much faith in their government. He had a strange feeling that Lucius would get away with this. However, he was willing to fight against Lucius now that there was no potential harm towards Ginny. There was an odd silence in which everyone was doing one of two things, thinking how happy they were that Ginny was home, or contemplating what they would do to Draco Malfoy if they ever got their hands on him, although the latter was always spawned from the first.
"Ginny," Harry said, "I'm going to beat Draco to a bloody pulp in Quidditch and have the beaters make sure he falls of his broom."
"Thanks Harry." Ginny said glancing up to where he was standing above her, and despite the horrors she had been through with Malfoy, she couldn't help but smile when their eyes locked.
~
Draco Malfoy was sitting in his room brooding over the injustices that had been done to him in the last few days. He had lost his birthday present, and he had so liked that one. No, he reminded himself, you liked the girl she pretended to be. She was really a conniving deceitful bitch. Still, he wished he could have kept her a little longer, even if he could never spend any time with her during the day. Shagging Ginny gave him such a power rush, and he was unlikely to be given any Death Eater opportunities since he had supposedly let the girl escape. It didn't fail to register that had he not let the girl escape, he would still be a Death Eater. Shagging Ginny and the power rush it encompassed would be nothing compared to the high he felt when he had his wand pointed at Mr. Diggory. It still thrilled him to think of it. He wondered what had happened at the Ministry when Amos didn't show up. Too bad his father would probably not divulge the details. All in all he supposed it was best he was leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow. His father couldn't strip too many privileges from him if he was already at boarding school. He laid down punching his pillow a few times in order to make himself comfortable.
A/N: If you want an update e-mail review and do me a HUGE favor and put your e-mail address in your review. I'd really appreciate it. I'll reply to all reviews in the e-mail update. Also, I'm looking for someone to draw some fanart for me. I just want a few scenes illustrated in the sequel and maybe one or two from here. If anyone would like to, or knows someone that would like to, please e-mail me, celestialanglexv@hotmail.com with an attachment or a link where I can see an example of your stuff. Thanks bunches!