Here's the 11th chapter! Enjoy!
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A year ago today, I was married to Draco Malfoy, Ginny thought as she gazed out of the window of her apartment building.
Six lonely months had gone by, and Ginny was trying her hardest to get her life back to the way it was before Draco had come and wreaked havoc. She had plenty of things during the day to keep her mind occupied, but it was during the night that Ginny longed for him the most.
You're doing an excellent job of trying to forget him, a voice inside her head said wryly. How can you forget him if you think of him everyday?
Her mind traveled, of its own accord, back to Ginny and Draco's wedding. The realization that she loved him when she was saying her vows, how handsome he had looked, the way her stomach had knotted in apprehension for their honeymoon. Their honeymoon...
Ginny furiously shook her head to clear the oncoming images of two naked bodies entwined. The images disappeared, but Ginny knew she would think of them later, she always did.
* * *
When Ginny got home from Aijen's birthday party, she received a message from the Headmaster of the Excellcur School. She was to go to Italy to represent the School in a month-long session. She would leave tomorrow.
As she was packing, a knock sounded at her door. She went and opened it. She was surprised to find Damius standing there.
"Damius? Wow, I wasn't expecting you," she smiled at him. "Come in."
He smiled back at her and stepped into her apartment. "Going somewhere?" he asked, spotting the suitcase that was on her couch.
"Yeah. I have to go to Italy for a month," she explained.
"Oh? When are you leaving?"
"Early tomorrow morning."
"I see," Damius replied. "Have you told your family?"
Ginny nodded. "I told them as soon as I got the message."
Damius nodded, as if pleased with something. "Good," he turned to look at her. "I'm terribly sorry about your divorce."
Ginny blinked and looked away. "Yeah, it just wasn't working out."
Damius didn't say anything. "I'm feeling kind of hungry. Would you like to go and grab something to eat?"
Ginny didn't feel like eating much, but Damius was looking at her in such expectancy she couldn't say no. "Sure. Just let me grab my jacket."
They ate at a restaurant in Ginny's neighborhood. Damius's company was very enjoyable, and Ginny felt relaxed. They talked some more over coffee until Ginny realized that it was getting late. Damius walked her back to her apartment and said good-bye.
Ginny took a shower and went to bed. She wanted to leave early so she would have enough time in Italy to go shopping for some new clothes. Plus, she was feeling more tired than usual.
* * *
When she woke up, she was confused. She thought perhaps that she was still dreaming. These walls weren't her walls, the bed did not feel like hers, and her room was not decorated in blue and white. She sat up quickly. Where was she? What happened to her room? She saw her suitcase lying on the a chair beside the bed. Am I in Italy? she asked herself in bewilderment. She closed her eyes and thought back. She remembered going to the restaurant with Damius, then going to bed... She couldn't remember anything else after that.
She flung back the covers and swung her feet to the floor. The blue carpet was soft and her feet sank into it. She walked to the wooden door and opened it. She peeked out into the hallway. Maybe she was in a hotel in Italy. Maybe she had been too tired to remember her trip here. Well if she was in a hotel, it certainly wouldn't do to be walking around in her nightie. She went back in her room, shut the door, opened her suitcase, took out a pair of stylish blue jeans and a shirt, and got dressed. She slipped on a pair of white tennis shoes and put her hair in a ponytail. She searched for her wand but could not find it, which made a little panic rise up in her. She decided to forget about her wand for now and look for it later. She slipped back out into the corridor.
There was a window at one end with the sun shining brightly through it. The cream carpet was soft and impeccably clean. There were doors that lined the corridor. Ginny made her way towards the stairs, thinking it was strange that the doors didn't have numbers on them. She descended the stairs, flinching for some reason when her footsteps made a noise. She reached the bottom and was in a large room. Numerous doors lined the walls.
Where are all the maids? Ginny wondered. She ambled over to a door that was to her right and tried the doorknob. It was locked. She tried two more doors until one finally opened. It was a dining room. A long table sat in the middle of the room. A chair was placed at each end. Breakfast was on the table.
Panic began to rise in her. Where was she? This was definitely NOT a hotel. She knew now. Perhaps she had been pretty dense when she woke up, but she was thinking clearly now, and she was piecing the puzzle together. The doors with no numbers, no maids, no sign of life, there was absolutely no noise, and practically all the doors were locked.
What's going on? she asked herself, trying to keep her fear under control. Her heart speeded up, and her legs began to feel weak. She was so horrified that she felt like crying. Was this some mad dream that she was having?
"Is anyone here?" she tried to yell out, but it came out in a quivering whisper. Her tears started falling. She wanted to sink to the floor and give into her sobbing, but she knew that would do no good. She went back to the big room with all the doors. Through tear-filled eyes she tried more doors, but all of them were locked except for one directly opposite the stairs. She opened it and stepped into an entrance hall. She spotted the large double doors and rushed toward them. Through the glass that was on either side of the doors, she saw the sky and trees. It's the front doors! she thought. She grasped the doorknob, turned it, and pulled, but it would not budge.
"No!" she cried as she pounded her fist against the door. She dropped to the floor and gave into her panic. She began crying hysterically. She was so frightened. After she cried until she couldn't cry anymore, Ginny sat there against the wall, breathing deeply to calm herself. First thing was first. She needed energy so she could think more clearly.
Ginny forced herself off the floor and stumbled to the dining room. She went to the table where there was an assortment of all kinds of food. She didn't think the food was poisoned. She poured herself a cup of orange juice and ate some fruit, feeling nauseous at the sight of everything else. Then she spotted the unbarred window on the other side of the dining room. She rushed over there, picked up the chair, and was about to break the window with it when a voice stopped her.
"I wouldn't do that."
Ginny swung around and gasped. (AN: I was so tempted to stop here!)
"That window is unbreakable. It might break the chair," Damius said. He was standing at the far end of the room.
"Damius!" Ginny cried, setting the chair down. "Why am I here? What's happening? How come I can't open the doors? Do you live here? What is this place-"
Damius held up a hand to stop her onslaught of questions. "Yes, I do live here. You can't open the doors because I locked them. And as for the first question, follow me," he went through the door that lead back to the other room with all the doors.
Ginny hesitated before following him. He lead her up the same flight of stairs, opened the first door on his left, and lead her down a dark corridor. Then the corridor suddenly opened into a larger corridor with pictures hanging on the walls. Ginny looked at all the pictures in the gallery in awe. There were so many of them! Then she spotted one that made her eyes go wide. It was the same picture that was in Malfoy Manor. She recognized the attractive brunette with the light blue eyes.
Damius must've seen her reaction. "Do you recognize her, Ginny?"
Ginny swallowed and looked at him. He seemed as tall as Draco. Without her heels on, she barely came up to his mouth. "It's Evette Peirring."
He smiled, but it wasn't a friendly smile. "Very good. Did Draco tell you of her history?" Ginny nodded. "Interesting history, eh?" he looked at Evette's picture. "Evette was very much loved by her family, so you can understand that the Peirrings were heartbroken when they learned of her death. They were outraged and wanted the Malfoys to pay for what they had done to the daughter of the house. But they could do nothing, because they had no proof that Elios had killed Evette. The Peirrings were helpless and could only wait for the right time for revenge. The time never came," Damius turned to look at Ginny with cold blue eyes, devoid of any emotion except hatred. "Until now."
"I-I don't understand," Ginny stammered, chilled by his stare.
"I think you do. The Malfoys murdered one of ours, so it's only fair that we kill one of theirs."
"We?"
"Did I forget to mention that I had a brother?" Damius said, raising his eyebrows slightly.
Ginny swallowed hard. He was crazy! "But I'm not a Malfoy."
He chuckled in a manner that sent chills down Ginny's spine. "No, I'm aware that you are no longer a Malfoy. But you might as well be. Draco loves and cherishes you still. I know it would cause him much pain to discover that the only thing he ever loved was dead."
Ginny felt a lump in her throat. "So why are you deciding to kill me now? Why haven't you done it sooner?"
"Draco's a broken man now, Ginny. Just your death would send him to insanity. Being the loyal friend that I am, I've been there when he needed someone to tell about his feelings for you. But the past week, he's been drawing deeper and deeper into himself. He's been staying in bed all day. Such a pathetic excuse for a man."
Ginny couldn't bear to hear about the state that Draco was in or she would break down herself. "How did you get me here?"
"Very easily," he sounded satisfied with himself. "I simply slipped a potion into your drink while you were in the bathroom. All I had to do after I dropped you off was to wait for a while until you fell into a deep sleep. Then with the help of my brother, we brought you back here."
"You're crazy!" she cried. She turned around and ran in the opposite direction, away from him. She needed to get out of here. Surely there was another exit to this house. Again she was in a dark and narrow corridor. At the end of the corridor there were two flights of stairs. One that went up and one that went down. Ginny chose the one that went down. She did not know if Damius was behind her or not, and she did not want to stop to find out.
She found herself in a large library with a door opposite of the stairs. She dashed toward it and opened it. It was a kitchen. Ginny rushed to the door that lead outside and prayed to all the gods and goddesses in history that the door would open. To her immense relief it did. She ran out into the bright sunlight, looking back to see if Damius was following her. Then she was caught in a pair of strong arms
"No! Let me go," she struggled furiously, her hair came undone and her rubber band dropped onto the grass.
"Shut up or I'm going to put a curse on you," a cold voice snapped.
Ginny looked up and knew that it was Damius's brother. He had the same blue eyes and brown hair and was taller. He started carrying her back to the house. Ginny opened her mouth to scream, but the man laughed.
"Scream all you want, no one will hear you. We live out in the country, far away from any one."
He dragged her down to what Ginny knew must be the dungeons. Her panic started rising again. She remembered vividly the dungeons at Malfoy Manor and began shivering. She could smell the scent of hay and other foul smells. The air was damp and heavy and seemed to press down on her. She also heard the sound of what could unmistakably be rats.
"Please don't leave me down here," she begged.
He ignored her. They stopped in front of a cell. He opened it and pushed her in. She stumbled and fell. She heard the sound of the door closing and quickly got up. Damius's brother was already walking away.
"No, come back!" she screamed, but he just simply ignored her and continued walking. He soon disappeared. Ginny looked around her surroundings. There was one single torch near the stairs where they had come down. Cells were on either side of her. She looked at her cell and saw through the dim light a pile of hay in one corner, and a hole in the other which had a horrible stench coming from it. Ginny knew that the hole was used as a bathroom. The floor was hard packed earth and it too had a horrible smell to it.
Ginny felt her breakfast come up, ran to the whole and retched. Her vomit hit the hole with a splatter that sent other fluids that were already in the hole splashing around the floor. Ginny gave a yelp and ran to the other side of the cell. There she fell to the floor and began crying.
* * *
Draco felt like shit. He had held himself together until a couple of weeks ago when he realized that the one year anniversary of his marriage to Ginny was coming up. It had already passed a week ago, and yet he still hadn't surfaced from his ever deepening pool of depression.
His mother and Damius had done numerous things to try to cheer him up, but he could not be taken away from his heart-broken thoughts. He wanted Ginny back, and he had been fighting against his pride and ego to go and tell her how he felt about her. He knew that his pride wouldn't be worth crap if he wasn't happy. He promised himself that he would go tomorrow to Ginny's apartment and tell her how he felt about her and beg her to come back to him. He knew he would be acting like a fool, but he seriously didn't care at this point.
The next morning he took a long shower, dressed, forced some food down, and left for Ginny's apartment by apparating. He took a deep breath as he appeared in front of her door. This was it. What was about to happen could damage him forever or make him the happiest man alive. He raised his hand and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He tried again, but again there was no answer. He tried for ten more minutes before he finally gave up. She wasn't home. He knew she wasn't working because it was a Saturday.
He then decided to apparate to Tilly's. He knocked on Tilly's house door. It was answered by her father.
"Is Tilly home?" Draco asked politely.
The older man smiled and nodded. "Why yes she is. Come in."
Draco went into their living room and sat down. Her dad went and got Tilly. A couple of minutes later Tilly came into the living room. She was surprised to see Draco.
"Draco?"
Draco stood up. "Tilly, I wanted to ask you about Ginny."
Tilly's eyes sparkled. "Of course! What is it?"
"Do you know where she is? She's not at her apartment."
"She's in Italy for a month. It's a teacher session thing."
"Do you know where she's staying?"
Tilly told him the address of the hotel. Draco thanked her and left to go back to the Manor. He threw in some floo powder in the fireplace and said the name of the hotel. Going long distance by floo powder was much easier than apparating. When he got to the hotel, he went and asked to see if a Virginia Weasley had checked in.
"I'm sorry, sir," the lady at the desk said. "I'm afraid she hasn't checked in. She was suppose to check in a few days ago, but we haven't seen nor heard from her."
Draco began to worry. What in the hell was going on? He apparated to Ginny's apartment and decided to ask her neighbors if they knew where she was. His interviews seemed futile so far, until he knocked on one of the doors on the main floor. It was answered by an attractive man that seemed no more than a couple of years younger than Draco.
"Hello," Draco said. He showed him a picture of Ginny. "Have you seen her? Her name's Ginny Weasley, or she goes by the name of Ginny too-"
"Yes I've seen her," the man interrupted Draco. "She lives on the floor above."
Draco nodded. "I was wondering if you've seen her this past week?"
The man closed an eye in thought. "Yes I have. I saw her last week going somewhere with a man. I was just going into my apartment from grocery shopping."
Draco's heart sank. Had she already found someone else? "Could you describe him?" Draco asked through the lump in his throat.
"About your height. Brown hair, well dressed."
"Was there any mention of a name?" Draco asked hopefully. This all somehow seemed so odd. He knew that Ginny was not irresponsible. She would not just pick up her things and run off with a man without telling anyone. Something was wrong.
The man shook his head. "Nope," then he gave Draco a look, noting his muscular frame and towering figure, as if deciding if it was safe to say what he wanted to say. He obviously decided that it was. "It was unfortunate that the guy was with her, because I wanted to take her to dinner. And maybe have some dessert afterwards, if you know what I mean," the guy wriggled his eyebrows at him.
Draco thanked the man with a punch to his eye and left with the man yelling threats of calling his lawyer. Draco racked his brain, trying to see if anyone that he knew had brown hair and was about as tall as he was. He came up blank.
Draco hadn't realized how late it was until he glanced at the sky and saw that the sun was setting. He wanted to keep on searching, but the logical side of his brain told him that he couldn't do much in the dark. Feeling worried, Draco went home. He knew that he needed someone to help him.
Over dinner his mother tried to make light conversation, but finally gave up when she realized that she might as well be talking to herself because he wasn't paying her the slightest attention.
Draco couldn't go to sleep until late into the night. Even in sleep he could not escape his worry. In his dream, he saw Ginny running toward him, her smile brightening her face. Her face suddenly changed as her eyes widened and her mouth opened in surprise. Then her eyes closed as she began falling. Draco ran to her as fast as he could run. He caught her before she hit the ground. There was a scorched mark on her back. He heard a soft chuckle and looked up to see a masked figure with a wand pointed at Ginny. Draco turned her over and shook her.
"Ginny," he called. "Wake up."
But she did not stir, and like a great blow that sent his mind reeling, it struck him that she was dead. As he pulled her lifeless body closer to him, he heard a woman. He looked around and saw a brown haired woman weeping.
Draco woke up, soaked in sweat. His breathing was heavy as his brain rushed to reassure him that it was only a dream. He thought it was still night, but a look at the clock told him that it was nearly ten o'clock. He looked outside his window and could see the sun through his curtains.
Draco got up and dressed. He decided to go to Damius's and ask him if he would help Draco find Ginny. With a quick bite of breakfast, he apparated right to Damius's front door and knocked. He waited a few minutes but no one came. He tried the knob, but it was locked. He circled around the manor to the kitchen door which he hoped was unlocked. As he crossed the lawn to the door, he spotted something lying on the grass. As he came closer, he saw that it was orange. He picked it up and examined it. It was an orange rubbber band, and he knew that it was the kind that girls used for their hair. His heart stopped when he saw strands of hair tangled in the rubber band. Strands of hair that were flaming red.
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There's your chapter 11! Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! I love you all! Please review! It's a great birthday present! super-sailor-saturn39
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A year ago today, I was married to Draco Malfoy, Ginny thought as she gazed out of the window of her apartment building.
Six lonely months had gone by, and Ginny was trying her hardest to get her life back to the way it was before Draco had come and wreaked havoc. She had plenty of things during the day to keep her mind occupied, but it was during the night that Ginny longed for him the most.
You're doing an excellent job of trying to forget him, a voice inside her head said wryly. How can you forget him if you think of him everyday?
Her mind traveled, of its own accord, back to Ginny and Draco's wedding. The realization that she loved him when she was saying her vows, how handsome he had looked, the way her stomach had knotted in apprehension for their honeymoon. Their honeymoon...
Ginny furiously shook her head to clear the oncoming images of two naked bodies entwined. The images disappeared, but Ginny knew she would think of them later, she always did.
* * *
When Ginny got home from Aijen's birthday party, she received a message from the Headmaster of the Excellcur School. She was to go to Italy to represent the School in a month-long session. She would leave tomorrow.
As she was packing, a knock sounded at her door. She went and opened it. She was surprised to find Damius standing there.
"Damius? Wow, I wasn't expecting you," she smiled at him. "Come in."
He smiled back at her and stepped into her apartment. "Going somewhere?" he asked, spotting the suitcase that was on her couch.
"Yeah. I have to go to Italy for a month," she explained.
"Oh? When are you leaving?"
"Early tomorrow morning."
"I see," Damius replied. "Have you told your family?"
Ginny nodded. "I told them as soon as I got the message."
Damius nodded, as if pleased with something. "Good," he turned to look at her. "I'm terribly sorry about your divorce."
Ginny blinked and looked away. "Yeah, it just wasn't working out."
Damius didn't say anything. "I'm feeling kind of hungry. Would you like to go and grab something to eat?"
Ginny didn't feel like eating much, but Damius was looking at her in such expectancy she couldn't say no. "Sure. Just let me grab my jacket."
They ate at a restaurant in Ginny's neighborhood. Damius's company was very enjoyable, and Ginny felt relaxed. They talked some more over coffee until Ginny realized that it was getting late. Damius walked her back to her apartment and said good-bye.
Ginny took a shower and went to bed. She wanted to leave early so she would have enough time in Italy to go shopping for some new clothes. Plus, she was feeling more tired than usual.
* * *
When she woke up, she was confused. She thought perhaps that she was still dreaming. These walls weren't her walls, the bed did not feel like hers, and her room was not decorated in blue and white. She sat up quickly. Where was she? What happened to her room? She saw her suitcase lying on the a chair beside the bed. Am I in Italy? she asked herself in bewilderment. She closed her eyes and thought back. She remembered going to the restaurant with Damius, then going to bed... She couldn't remember anything else after that.
She flung back the covers and swung her feet to the floor. The blue carpet was soft and her feet sank into it. She walked to the wooden door and opened it. She peeked out into the hallway. Maybe she was in a hotel in Italy. Maybe she had been too tired to remember her trip here. Well if she was in a hotel, it certainly wouldn't do to be walking around in her nightie. She went back in her room, shut the door, opened her suitcase, took out a pair of stylish blue jeans and a shirt, and got dressed. She slipped on a pair of white tennis shoes and put her hair in a ponytail. She searched for her wand but could not find it, which made a little panic rise up in her. She decided to forget about her wand for now and look for it later. She slipped back out into the corridor.
There was a window at one end with the sun shining brightly through it. The cream carpet was soft and impeccably clean. There were doors that lined the corridor. Ginny made her way towards the stairs, thinking it was strange that the doors didn't have numbers on them. She descended the stairs, flinching for some reason when her footsteps made a noise. She reached the bottom and was in a large room. Numerous doors lined the walls.
Where are all the maids? Ginny wondered. She ambled over to a door that was to her right and tried the doorknob. It was locked. She tried two more doors until one finally opened. It was a dining room. A long table sat in the middle of the room. A chair was placed at each end. Breakfast was on the table.
Panic began to rise in her. Where was she? This was definitely NOT a hotel. She knew now. Perhaps she had been pretty dense when she woke up, but she was thinking clearly now, and she was piecing the puzzle together. The doors with no numbers, no maids, no sign of life, there was absolutely no noise, and practically all the doors were locked.
What's going on? she asked herself, trying to keep her fear under control. Her heart speeded up, and her legs began to feel weak. She was so horrified that she felt like crying. Was this some mad dream that she was having?
"Is anyone here?" she tried to yell out, but it came out in a quivering whisper. Her tears started falling. She wanted to sink to the floor and give into her sobbing, but she knew that would do no good. She went back to the big room with all the doors. Through tear-filled eyes she tried more doors, but all of them were locked except for one directly opposite the stairs. She opened it and stepped into an entrance hall. She spotted the large double doors and rushed toward them. Through the glass that was on either side of the doors, she saw the sky and trees. It's the front doors! she thought. She grasped the doorknob, turned it, and pulled, but it would not budge.
"No!" she cried as she pounded her fist against the door. She dropped to the floor and gave into her panic. She began crying hysterically. She was so frightened. After she cried until she couldn't cry anymore, Ginny sat there against the wall, breathing deeply to calm herself. First thing was first. She needed energy so she could think more clearly.
Ginny forced herself off the floor and stumbled to the dining room. She went to the table where there was an assortment of all kinds of food. She didn't think the food was poisoned. She poured herself a cup of orange juice and ate some fruit, feeling nauseous at the sight of everything else. Then she spotted the unbarred window on the other side of the dining room. She rushed over there, picked up the chair, and was about to break the window with it when a voice stopped her.
"I wouldn't do that."
Ginny swung around and gasped. (AN: I was so tempted to stop here!)
"That window is unbreakable. It might break the chair," Damius said. He was standing at the far end of the room.
"Damius!" Ginny cried, setting the chair down. "Why am I here? What's happening? How come I can't open the doors? Do you live here? What is this place-"
Damius held up a hand to stop her onslaught of questions. "Yes, I do live here. You can't open the doors because I locked them. And as for the first question, follow me," he went through the door that lead back to the other room with all the doors.
Ginny hesitated before following him. He lead her up the same flight of stairs, opened the first door on his left, and lead her down a dark corridor. Then the corridor suddenly opened into a larger corridor with pictures hanging on the walls. Ginny looked at all the pictures in the gallery in awe. There were so many of them! Then she spotted one that made her eyes go wide. It was the same picture that was in Malfoy Manor. She recognized the attractive brunette with the light blue eyes.
Damius must've seen her reaction. "Do you recognize her, Ginny?"
Ginny swallowed and looked at him. He seemed as tall as Draco. Without her heels on, she barely came up to his mouth. "It's Evette Peirring."
He smiled, but it wasn't a friendly smile. "Very good. Did Draco tell you of her history?" Ginny nodded. "Interesting history, eh?" he looked at Evette's picture. "Evette was very much loved by her family, so you can understand that the Peirrings were heartbroken when they learned of her death. They were outraged and wanted the Malfoys to pay for what they had done to the daughter of the house. But they could do nothing, because they had no proof that Elios had killed Evette. The Peirrings were helpless and could only wait for the right time for revenge. The time never came," Damius turned to look at Ginny with cold blue eyes, devoid of any emotion except hatred. "Until now."
"I-I don't understand," Ginny stammered, chilled by his stare.
"I think you do. The Malfoys murdered one of ours, so it's only fair that we kill one of theirs."
"We?"
"Did I forget to mention that I had a brother?" Damius said, raising his eyebrows slightly.
Ginny swallowed hard. He was crazy! "But I'm not a Malfoy."
He chuckled in a manner that sent chills down Ginny's spine. "No, I'm aware that you are no longer a Malfoy. But you might as well be. Draco loves and cherishes you still. I know it would cause him much pain to discover that the only thing he ever loved was dead."
Ginny felt a lump in her throat. "So why are you deciding to kill me now? Why haven't you done it sooner?"
"Draco's a broken man now, Ginny. Just your death would send him to insanity. Being the loyal friend that I am, I've been there when he needed someone to tell about his feelings for you. But the past week, he's been drawing deeper and deeper into himself. He's been staying in bed all day. Such a pathetic excuse for a man."
Ginny couldn't bear to hear about the state that Draco was in or she would break down herself. "How did you get me here?"
"Very easily," he sounded satisfied with himself. "I simply slipped a potion into your drink while you were in the bathroom. All I had to do after I dropped you off was to wait for a while until you fell into a deep sleep. Then with the help of my brother, we brought you back here."
"You're crazy!" she cried. She turned around and ran in the opposite direction, away from him. She needed to get out of here. Surely there was another exit to this house. Again she was in a dark and narrow corridor. At the end of the corridor there were two flights of stairs. One that went up and one that went down. Ginny chose the one that went down. She did not know if Damius was behind her or not, and she did not want to stop to find out.
She found herself in a large library with a door opposite of the stairs. She dashed toward it and opened it. It was a kitchen. Ginny rushed to the door that lead outside and prayed to all the gods and goddesses in history that the door would open. To her immense relief it did. She ran out into the bright sunlight, looking back to see if Damius was following her. Then she was caught in a pair of strong arms
"No! Let me go," she struggled furiously, her hair came undone and her rubber band dropped onto the grass.
"Shut up or I'm going to put a curse on you," a cold voice snapped.
Ginny looked up and knew that it was Damius's brother. He had the same blue eyes and brown hair and was taller. He started carrying her back to the house. Ginny opened her mouth to scream, but the man laughed.
"Scream all you want, no one will hear you. We live out in the country, far away from any one."
He dragged her down to what Ginny knew must be the dungeons. Her panic started rising again. She remembered vividly the dungeons at Malfoy Manor and began shivering. She could smell the scent of hay and other foul smells. The air was damp and heavy and seemed to press down on her. She also heard the sound of what could unmistakably be rats.
"Please don't leave me down here," she begged.
He ignored her. They stopped in front of a cell. He opened it and pushed her in. She stumbled and fell. She heard the sound of the door closing and quickly got up. Damius's brother was already walking away.
"No, come back!" she screamed, but he just simply ignored her and continued walking. He soon disappeared. Ginny looked around her surroundings. There was one single torch near the stairs where they had come down. Cells were on either side of her. She looked at her cell and saw through the dim light a pile of hay in one corner, and a hole in the other which had a horrible stench coming from it. Ginny knew that the hole was used as a bathroom. The floor was hard packed earth and it too had a horrible smell to it.
Ginny felt her breakfast come up, ran to the whole and retched. Her vomit hit the hole with a splatter that sent other fluids that were already in the hole splashing around the floor. Ginny gave a yelp and ran to the other side of the cell. There she fell to the floor and began crying.
* * *
Draco felt like shit. He had held himself together until a couple of weeks ago when he realized that the one year anniversary of his marriage to Ginny was coming up. It had already passed a week ago, and yet he still hadn't surfaced from his ever deepening pool of depression.
His mother and Damius had done numerous things to try to cheer him up, but he could not be taken away from his heart-broken thoughts. He wanted Ginny back, and he had been fighting against his pride and ego to go and tell her how he felt about her. He knew that his pride wouldn't be worth crap if he wasn't happy. He promised himself that he would go tomorrow to Ginny's apartment and tell her how he felt about her and beg her to come back to him. He knew he would be acting like a fool, but he seriously didn't care at this point.
The next morning he took a long shower, dressed, forced some food down, and left for Ginny's apartment by apparating. He took a deep breath as he appeared in front of her door. This was it. What was about to happen could damage him forever or make him the happiest man alive. He raised his hand and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He tried again, but again there was no answer. He tried for ten more minutes before he finally gave up. She wasn't home. He knew she wasn't working because it was a Saturday.
He then decided to apparate to Tilly's. He knocked on Tilly's house door. It was answered by her father.
"Is Tilly home?" Draco asked politely.
The older man smiled and nodded. "Why yes she is. Come in."
Draco went into their living room and sat down. Her dad went and got Tilly. A couple of minutes later Tilly came into the living room. She was surprised to see Draco.
"Draco?"
Draco stood up. "Tilly, I wanted to ask you about Ginny."
Tilly's eyes sparkled. "Of course! What is it?"
"Do you know where she is? She's not at her apartment."
"She's in Italy for a month. It's a teacher session thing."
"Do you know where she's staying?"
Tilly told him the address of the hotel. Draco thanked her and left to go back to the Manor. He threw in some floo powder in the fireplace and said the name of the hotel. Going long distance by floo powder was much easier than apparating. When he got to the hotel, he went and asked to see if a Virginia Weasley had checked in.
"I'm sorry, sir," the lady at the desk said. "I'm afraid she hasn't checked in. She was suppose to check in a few days ago, but we haven't seen nor heard from her."
Draco began to worry. What in the hell was going on? He apparated to Ginny's apartment and decided to ask her neighbors if they knew where she was. His interviews seemed futile so far, until he knocked on one of the doors on the main floor. It was answered by an attractive man that seemed no more than a couple of years younger than Draco.
"Hello," Draco said. He showed him a picture of Ginny. "Have you seen her? Her name's Ginny Weasley, or she goes by the name of Ginny too-"
"Yes I've seen her," the man interrupted Draco. "She lives on the floor above."
Draco nodded. "I was wondering if you've seen her this past week?"
The man closed an eye in thought. "Yes I have. I saw her last week going somewhere with a man. I was just going into my apartment from grocery shopping."
Draco's heart sank. Had she already found someone else? "Could you describe him?" Draco asked through the lump in his throat.
"About your height. Brown hair, well dressed."
"Was there any mention of a name?" Draco asked hopefully. This all somehow seemed so odd. He knew that Ginny was not irresponsible. She would not just pick up her things and run off with a man without telling anyone. Something was wrong.
The man shook his head. "Nope," then he gave Draco a look, noting his muscular frame and towering figure, as if deciding if it was safe to say what he wanted to say. He obviously decided that it was. "It was unfortunate that the guy was with her, because I wanted to take her to dinner. And maybe have some dessert afterwards, if you know what I mean," the guy wriggled his eyebrows at him.
Draco thanked the man with a punch to his eye and left with the man yelling threats of calling his lawyer. Draco racked his brain, trying to see if anyone that he knew had brown hair and was about as tall as he was. He came up blank.
Draco hadn't realized how late it was until he glanced at the sky and saw that the sun was setting. He wanted to keep on searching, but the logical side of his brain told him that he couldn't do much in the dark. Feeling worried, Draco went home. He knew that he needed someone to help him.
Over dinner his mother tried to make light conversation, but finally gave up when she realized that she might as well be talking to herself because he wasn't paying her the slightest attention.
Draco couldn't go to sleep until late into the night. Even in sleep he could not escape his worry. In his dream, he saw Ginny running toward him, her smile brightening her face. Her face suddenly changed as her eyes widened and her mouth opened in surprise. Then her eyes closed as she began falling. Draco ran to her as fast as he could run. He caught her before she hit the ground. There was a scorched mark on her back. He heard a soft chuckle and looked up to see a masked figure with a wand pointed at Ginny. Draco turned her over and shook her.
"Ginny," he called. "Wake up."
But she did not stir, and like a great blow that sent his mind reeling, it struck him that she was dead. As he pulled her lifeless body closer to him, he heard a woman. He looked around and saw a brown haired woman weeping.
Draco woke up, soaked in sweat. His breathing was heavy as his brain rushed to reassure him that it was only a dream. He thought it was still night, but a look at the clock told him that it was nearly ten o'clock. He looked outside his window and could see the sun through his curtains.
Draco got up and dressed. He decided to go to Damius's and ask him if he would help Draco find Ginny. With a quick bite of breakfast, he apparated right to Damius's front door and knocked. He waited a few minutes but no one came. He tried the knob, but it was locked. He circled around the manor to the kitchen door which he hoped was unlocked. As he crossed the lawn to the door, he spotted something lying on the grass. As he came closer, he saw that it was orange. He picked it up and examined it. It was an orange rubbber band, and he knew that it was the kind that girls used for their hair. His heart stopped when he saw strands of hair tangled in the rubber band. Strands of hair that were flaming red.
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There's your chapter 11! Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! I love you all! Please review! It's a great birthday present! super-sailor-saturn39