Hey there, I know, it has been a long while. Well I've been writing this, and while it may suck, please lie and say it's good! See, I'm supposed to be having it beta-d, but my beta is not doing her job...VenusAeternuscoughcoughcough...and I'm really impatient. So if you catch any mistakes, please tell me! Then I'll fix them and make it better. The spacing is a little off, I hope you don't mind.
Oh, and "DISCLAIMER": I don't own anything in this story or the book that I used for the title, except where it takes place, because I made it up. :) But I wish I did, so that makes me feel like I own them...
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At the end of the day, Ginny Weasley was always too tired to do much else than eat, bathe, and sleep. It was a rare occurrence for her to be able to sit down and listen to music, or to even catch a...a...ci-me-na with her friends.
Auror work was extremely trying, even for those in top condition. It had been worse, so much worse during the War, and everyone had given it their all in those days.
When Voldemort had attacked the Ministry in her fourth year, Ginny Weasley remembered following her brother and his friends and Harry Potter, and all she could think was that it would never get much worse.
Indeed, it did.
She had lost too many friends and just as many acquaintances in battle, people she had woken up next to and sat next to, and fought next to. Those who died were considered the luckiest because those who they left behind suffered even more.
Harry Potter, no doubt about it, suffered further than anyone else. When she had left the field that day, she went to visit Harry in St. Mungo's, which was in extremely high security.
Ginny would never forget the way he looked just before the Ministry collapsed. She heard his voice over and over again, with Neville, screaming at them to run. Run, run, before he comes after you.
She ran with Ron and Hermione, just as the ceiling began to collapse. Remus Lupin had met them at the entrance and the air around them smelled of dust and filled with shards of flying granite and metal.
Harry dragged himself through the boulders, the debris, and finally reached Neville. They heard faint moans just before he emerged, moving himself heavily.
He had made it through with a broken leg and a nearly severed arm, hardly able to move, momentarily blinded by the intense pain in his head and the dust in the air. In his bleeding fingers he held a shred of Neville's robes.
Ginny had never forgotten any details of that day. Voldemort had escaped but was now a small remnant of what he once was.
Ginny Weasley hated decrepit buildings now and so she had not enjoyed today's venture.
They had received word from a scout that Lucius Malfoy and his son Draco had been sighted in a warehouse somewhere in Manchester.
The warehouse was run down, leaking, and roiling with rats.
Ginny hated it now more than ever.
She had been the one forced into going down into the basement structure, Level A, complaining about the lack of decent wizards who believed in chivalry these days. The whole endeavor had resulted in a near death experience because the basement's main column was in the process of collapsing just as Ginny got under the building.
She left work today with more than one type of scar.
In the hospital, as soon as Harry had fallen asleep squeezing her hand, she had left. He had been doing so much better and was nearly ready to leave. By Monday, the nurse said. Ginny's heart leaped with a suspiciously good feeling.
Too tired to apparate, she caught the Knight Bus home, ate some cold lasagna straight from the refridgerator, and just as the sun went down she stepped into the bath.
Ginny sighed and squeezed a generous amount of shampoo onto her head and started to rub it in. She massaged her scalp, trying to deter the headache that she could feel coming on.
"Ah, bugger!" She hissed, as a small rivulet of soap ran into her eyes. She squeezed them shut.
All the while she remained blissfully unaware that, at that very moment, someone was tiptoeing into her bathroom.
In fact, had Ginny opened her eyes to look for her conditioner, she would have seen a very angry, very frightful looking Draco Malfoy step up to the shower.
If Ginny had any inkling, she would have been able to tell that someone with nothing to lose was easing open her shower curtain.
And though she would never realize it, she had been so close to catching him and his father today that she was just a few minutes late. Ginny would have beaten herself silly had she known.
The government would never let some old rundown building stand in the middle of a town if it was in danger of collapsing.
Ginny hummed out a few notes just to make a little noise, and she was very lucky that the sudden sound startled Malfoy. He knocked down her bottle of conditioner, which was perched precariously on a small shelf.
Whirling, she opened her eyes and everything flashed around her.
Ginny cursed quickly and immediately shoved her hand in front of her. She screamed as loud as she could when she connected with someone's face and shoved it back into the tile.
Hearing the sickening crack, she leaped from the shower and grabbed a towel to wipe her eyes clean and she opened them as she scrambled madly for the door to her bedroom where, laying on her bed in her clothes, was her wand.
She turned quickly and saw Draco Malfoy lunging after her, his clothes damp and his hair wet.
Ginny didn't stop screaming even as she ran down the hall and into her bedroom, stopping only to lock the door behind her and barely managing to throw her desk down in front of it to deter any entrance.
Ginny looked for her wand. She screamed loudly as Draco Malfoy began to kick the door. He was screaming at her, most likely yelling obscenities, and she shrieked.
She had lost her wand, that was for sure. It wasn't in her clothes. It was too late when she realized that Draco Malfoy must have come into here looking for her wand and he had found it and she would have been much better off jumping out the window.
Slipping as quickly as she could into a large coat, she held it tightly about her. A two-story jump into some bushes could nearly be considered routine. Actually she was kidding herself, but there was no time to dwell on that fact now because she was about to see Draco Malfoy coming through the door, which was splintered just enough to allow his wiry body through. Ginny clambered onto the windowsill, clutching her coat shut, just as Malfoy scrambled madly over her desk.
Ginny jumped without a second glance.
Draco Malfoy, however, had other plans. He pointed his wand at her and said, "Levioso!" and she came floating up to him, kicking and screaming, madly wondering where all the neighbors where.
He grabbed her by the neck as soon as she came to the window.
Ginny fought briefly before he slammed her head into the wall.
Draco Malfoy, who must have been sitting in the shadows tending to his own wounds, emerged from the corner farthest from her with a piece of cloth tied around his arm, and several scratches and tears in his shirt. Ginny tried not to flinch as he bent over in front of and instead looked back into his angry eyes with pure defiance. He grasped her hair and yanked her head up in a fury. She hissed at the pain and shut her eyes in a wince.
"Long time," Malfoy wrenched at her hair, "No see...kid." He spoke in a condescending tone.
"Where is my wand?" She cried out as he let go of her hair and pressed her face into the stone lined floor.
Ginny was barely able to make out the evil snicker over the vicious pounding in her head. He leaned back and released her. Pulling something out of his pocket, he smiled at her like a cat to a mouse. She sat up and backed into the corner while holding her coat shut and trying to button it up.
He balanced himself on his feet, kneeling in front of her. Ginny looked at him angrily as he twirled her wand between two fingers. "Give it back right now."
He grabbed her neck and pushed her back into the rock wall. "You're in no place to demand things of me!" Draco hissed, and he felt her gulp against the palm of his hand.
She heard him snap it into two.
Ginny managed a breath but felt a pain like never before at the loss of her wand. "I can, and I will!" She struggled against him, trying to hit his face and blind him momentarily. "I demand food, I demand water, I demand clothing, a bath, and I want to get my freedom back! But most of all Malfoy I want to see you hanged!" As emphasis on the last word, she kicked him as hard as she could in the shins. She seized the opportunity as his grip loosened for a moment.
Draco toppled over and Ginny scrambled past him as fast as she could to the other side of the room, coming across a locked door in the shadows. She went quickly for the handle but Malfoy collided into her and knocked the wind out of her.
Ginny fell to the ground and Malfoy lunged, hitting her hard in the stomach. Next, he went for her neck. He crushed her neck into the stone and Ginny started to gurgle, closing her eyes as she clawed at his face.
Ginny was nearly ready to die when his left hand came up to strangle her also. Seizing another very lucky opportunity, she tried to cry out to distract him. Ginny got her hands up to his and tried to pry his fingers off of her.
She got hold of his pinkies and she bent them back towards his wrists. She kept it up until finally he let out a roar of pain and let go.
Ginny pushed him off and made another mad dash to find something, anything to get him away.
She had to struggle to see through the red stars that invaded her line of site. There was a chair and a small table that had bloody splinters of wood on it and a bowl of water, which she hadn't noticed in the far corner of the room. She ran to it while gasping madly and trying to breathe.
Grabbing the water, she threw it in his face. Ginny also grabbed several of the splinters that Malfoy had just earlier pulled from his arm. He came at her again, the water running out of his eyes. She panted madly, stumbling over a small bucket, but righted herself and remembered the splinters.
Ginny fit them quickly in the cracks between her fingers and she punched him, trying for his neck and eyes. They got stuck in her hand and soon she was bleeding, the pain so harsh that it was numbing her whole body; yet Ginny pounded mercilessly on his face and chest, succeeding in scratching him and making him bleed more than hurt.
Malfoy managed to get away from her. He blocked her blows and backhanded her on the cheek.
Ginny fell to the ground, dizzy and half unconscious.
She moaned throatily as she felt blood in her mouth.
Malfoy picked her up and carried her to the other end of the room and he dropped her onto the hard floor. She blinked as blood rushed to her head and poured from the cuts on her face.
"Fucking hell. Pretty damn good." Malfoy turned his head and spat some blood onto the ground. He bent over her and she looked groggily up at him, still blinking, trying to clear the blood from her eyes. He smirked. "It won't last for long."
Some blood trickled from the corner of her eye but she didn't cry. Draco wanted her to sob and beg and plead for mercy; all the things she would never do. He put his hand up and brought it down swiftly and she closed her eyes quickly so as not to see him hit her.
But he didn't. And instead Ginny felt a strange, alien caress on her cheek, sliding, sliding, going down her neck and resting on her breast.
Ginny stiffened and tried to sink into the ground, squeezing her eyes shut. She tried to yell and curse him, but she couldn't. Her vocal chords were crushed.
Draco leaned forward and licked the trail of blood that fell down her cheek.
Then he stood and kicked her in the side and Ginny elicited a wet, choked moan. "Tomorrow, you'll be dead."
Ginny dimly heard his footsteps leading away and the slam of the door rocked her senses. The heady scent of spilled blood was in the room along with the musty smell of mold, moss, and hatred.
Ginny couldn't scream, she couldn't cough, she couldn't speak. She felt like she was dying and she lay there not moving.
Somewhere she felt a slight breath of air, cool and soothing. It ran past her cheek, and she could feel the icy trail of Malfoy's saliva.
The mere thought brought back the already fading memories of his hand on her and suddenly she rolled over, her stomach heaving.
The acid burned her already rupturing throat, but there was no stopping the vomit from escaping the confines of her gut.
She heaved over and over again. But finally nothing would come up so she crawled weakly to the cleaner corner where she collapsed.
She had so many questions. But she brought the most important query to the front of her mind.
When...when would they come for her?
Surely...surely someone would notice her disappearance. She had put up a fight,and her flat was now in shambles.
She was bound to be discovered missing. Wasn't she?
She briefly closed her eyes.
Ginny awoke with a horrible taste in her mouth and she felt like retching again. Her mind was in shambles and she felt weak, realizing she had fallen asleep in a place as horrid as this, and thinking of all the things that asshole could have done to her while she had been down. She tried to stand and suddenly an immense pain rushed through her hand. Ginny was forced to collapse and she felt a thick liquid swirl around her fingers.
Looking down, Ginny gagged. Sticking in her hand, deep under the skin, were three splinters, sharp, and nearly the size of small toothpicks. They were embedded in a torn mass of skin and flesh, and blood was pooling on the floor.
Ginny winced and did a half-hearted grimace.
However, her face was so bruised she could barely manage it. She stood by balancing her weight on her other hand and Ginny managed to limp carefully around.
It was roughly twenty steps wide and maybe thirty steps to the door. There used to be a table and chair, but they were gone now, and so were the items that were on them.
A small bucket, the one she had knocked over, was resting in the corner of the room. She guessed that it would be her new toilet.
Ginny had felt a breeze earlier, and she looked for the source. It hadn't come from the door, certainly, it was the wrong direction. Looking at the walls, which were high and clothed in moss, she saw a small light and realized it was the glow of a star, shining upon the wall.
She looked up, and through a small hole in the ceiling, she could make out the celestial creature.
Suddenly Ginny began to cry. Hot tears poured mercilessly down her cheeks and she lost sight of the star at the onslaught. She rubbed her eyes madly so as not to lose it again.
Ginny gave a ragged sigh and she wailed hoarsely. She realized, of course, it was her only connection to the outside.
But she knew that it would be the last star she would ever see.
It was glowing, shining down upon her, and Ginny felt another wave of tears. She looked up once more and thanked it.
For what, exactly, she had no idea.
She backed into a corner then and composed herself. She slid down the wall and wiped away her tears, just in time to hear Malfoy come banging down the hall outside. She sat on her haunches.
Ginny heard him open the door and he came in balancing two trays. She watched him slam the door shut. He strode over to her and sat down, his face lit by the star. Ginny leaned her head back into the shadows, but Malfoy could see her eyes glinting dangerously.
She stared at him. Finally he said, "Well, eat. I know you're hungry." His eyes flickered to where she had emptied her stomach earlier.
She lifted her chin defiantly. Ginny lifted her hand to his face, as though she were about to push him backwards.
Looking straight at him, she reached for the forceps. Then she focused down at her hand, she braced herself.
Finding a splinter's end, she grasped it with the forceps and pulled gently. She hissed. She looked at Malfoy, who was snickering. "Would you please leave?" Ginny managed, her throat rasping horribly and her voice husky and deep.
He smiled at her, showing only the tips of his canines, as though he were a ravenous wolf that thrived on blood and probably ate small children and old people. It was all true, of course.
Ginny scowled and went back to her hand, leaning further into the darkness.
Grasping the wood with the tweezers again, she pulled more forcefully. The splinter slid out, and came with some of her flesh.
Throwing it onto the tray, she went for the second one. That one slipped out of her hand the easiest and she was eager for the whole business to be finished. The third wouldn't come out.
Ginny finally wrenched it free and there was a large string of meat attached to it. Ginny opened the bottle of antiseptic and poured it on her hand.
She hissed again as it burned, stinging and stinging.
She really felt like screaming and crying and ripping at her hair but that couldn't be done in front of her captor.
Malfoy was now looking at her.
She was looking at her reflection in the tray and it was dim and blurry but she could make out the other areas that needed her care and attention. Pouring some more liquid onto her hand, she pressed it to her eyebrow and around the bruises and scrapes on her neck, then she gently cleaned the bump on her head.
Burning in a thousand places now, she set upon the food.
"It's poisoned, you know." Malfoy said as he watched her slurp at the soup and water.
His jest didn't faze Ginny and in fact, she ate more ravenously, staring at him while she downed the meal.
Malfoy laughed throatily. She would rather die with her gut wrenching then let herself be willingly taken.
"Ah ha ha." She laughed mockingly, pushing the two trays at him. But she paused. "I'm keeping one."
He contemplated the idea for a long while, and Ginny thought he was going to refuse and then bash her head in for suggesting such a stupid thing. He sighed. "Fine. You may. You're not going to be here long at any rate." He spoke a binding spell, something Latin that she had never heard. Now he would know what she was doing with it, whether she was trying to dig her way out, which was very unlikely, or if she would use it to club him the next time he came in, which was most likely.
Malfoy raked his eyes up and down her form, looking at the shell of a woman who had been powerful, brave, and healthy.
"It's really a pity what will happen to you." He stood, getting the dishes and forceps and extra bandages and walked to the door before pausing. "If only you...well, if only you weren't born! I think...I think tomorrow I will kill you." He cackled madly then, and the door slammed shut behind him.
As soon as she was sure that he was gone, Ginny spat onto the tray and shined it up with her sleeve as best as she could. Then she placed it under the hole in the ceiling and looked at the sad, faded reflection of the star.
The room was a bit brighter now, but to Ginny it was the same dank place. No amount of light could change it. Ginny put a hand to her head. It was pounding again but the burning had faded a little. Ginny looked up quickly. Had it, had that been-no, it couldn't be.
She had seen something scamper around the room. What was it?
There it was again, and this time it was accompanied by another thing, something bigger.
Then Ginny lost it. She couldn't find it in the room anymore, but suddenly her arms felt very limp, very strange. She got itchy then, and insects were running up and down her limbs. She scratched, madly tearing at her own skin.
Ginny saw the shadows again, this time darting close to her face and in and out of her clothes, and they brought with them bright lights and twirling spots.
These too faded into nothingness and Ginny had one last thought before she lost herself in a sensation of emptiness.
Malfoy had drugged her.
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And indeed, if you didn't know, that was one chapter out of four...I think it will be four, the way I have it planned.
Please review, and flames will be welcome if they're constructive!