a.n: I'm so sorry this took soo long to get out. I know I shouldn't have excuses, but I really was busy! But, since I'm grounded and have nothing to do for the next umpteen days, I'm gonna write fanfiction! I'm devoting all my time to you to make up for not updating :( love ya'll! sorry again
Before they entered the room they'd passed by earlier, Ginny stopped. She was nervous and she'd admit it. "You can still leave," Draco said. She shook her head. "Then we've got to get in there now." She nodded, but she still didn't move. She was thinking about what she was going to hear and see tonight and about how Harry was sitting at home, oblivious to the fact that she was here. He thought she was meeting an old friend. Now that she was actually here, she was thinking twice. "Ginevra," he said slowly. "Let's go if you're staying." She released her mind of any doubt she had and followed him in, following his actions and putting her hood up. She was thankful for the hood. No one saw how scared she really was.
Draco entered the room and everyone stopped talking at once. He knew they were wondering who was with him. He was surprised Pansy hadn't told them. He didn't say anything, but led Ginny to an open seat. He heard a huff as he walked by one of the cloaked people and knew right away that it was Pansy. She was going to be furious when he didn't sit next to her. He smirked just thinking about it.
Once Ginny was seated, everyone turned back to their conversations, but they still passed glances at her. She leaned over to Draco. "Why did you tell You-Know-Who I'd give him information on Harry? I would never do such a thing." He shrugged.
"If I didn't tell him something believable, he'd have killed you straight away, no questions asked." Ginny shuddered. Why had she agreed to this? She jumped as she felt a hand slide behind her back. "Relax," he whispered. "It's not that bad. We probably won't do anything tonight. Most of the time we just plan." She nodded, but his hand stayed on her back. She noticed more people were looking her way now.
"Draco, people are staring," she whispered. He didn't move. "Draco," she said a bit more sternly.
"They aren't going to do anything. They don't know who you are," he answered her.
"They know you're married to Pansy," she countered. He nodded at this.
"They know I don't want to be." He smirked beneath his hood when Ginny groaned. She turned to him and he was sure she was glaring even though he couldn't see her face.
"Why'd you marry her if you can't stand her?" She noticed his hand had moved down a considerable amount when she turned to him and it was now resting just above her hip.
"Inheritance," he said simply. "My father told me if I didn't marry her, I'd lose all inheritance he left to me. That's a lot to lose." Ginny thought about this for a moment.
"So that's why-" she started, but was interupted by the opening of the door. Voldemort stood there, a grim smirk on his face. Everyone went silent and even Draco seemed to stop breathing. She wondered why until he spoke.
"It's tonight." She felt Draco tense beside her.
"Damn," he whispered. He turned to Ginny. "You've got to tell him Potter's away." Her eyes went wide and tears welled up inside them.
"What's going on?" She whispered. Draco shook his head.
"I knew it was a bad idea to bring you here," he said instead of answering her. Then he looked at her and said, "He wants to finish Potter tonight. Normally I'd let him and probably help, but I can't put you through that. Now tell him Potter isn't home. Do something." Ginny looked up and saw that many of the Death Eaters in the room seemed extremely happy at Voldemort's announcement. Now, however, they were all looking at her, including Voldemort.
"Ginevra Weasley," Voldemort said. "You said you could offer me useful information on Harry Potter. Where is he right now?" Ginny concentrated on the Occlumens lessons she'd had with Harry earlier on in the year in case something like this should happen. She cleared her mind and concentrated before answering him.
"I don't know," she said softly. "He said he was leaving for awhile and left a few days ago." Voldemort seemed to be surveying her and she concentrated harder. She could feel him trying to read her thoughts and she quickly tried thinking of something else. He seemed to buy her answer though and nodded.
"When will he be returning?" Ginny shook her head again.
"He didn't tell me. We'd just had a nasty row and he just left, saying he wouldn't be back for awhile." Ginny was so nervous she nearly fainted, but Draco kept her steady with a hand on her back. Voldemort didn't seem to like this answer. He turned on Draco.
"You said she could help me." His voice was unnervingly calm and Ginny shuddered, despite all her efforts not to. Draco stood up straighter.
"She can. Just not right now," he snapped. Ginny was shocked. She'd never heard anyone have to courage to stand up to Voldemort and then snap at him. Voldemort advanced on them. Draco didn't back down. He wasn't intimidated.
"Get her out of here," he hissed at them. Draco shook his head under his hood.
"No," he said simply. Ginny was terrified. "Her intentions are true and she's not lying to you. I was in her house earlier yesterday. Potter wasn't there." Ginny thanked him silently. Voldemort seemed torn between killing Draco and accepting what he said. Ginny knew it was only because Draco was his next in line. Lucius had always been powerful and done exactly what he'd been asked to. Draco knew his power exceeded his fathers and he knew Voldemort was weak as of the moment. He wasn't about to take any order sitting down, or standing for that matter. He wasn't one to be ordered around. He did as he pleased. Voldemort backed away without saying anything. He left the room and everyone started talking at once.
"Does this mean we're leaving?" Ginny asked, puzzled. Draco shook his head. "Then what-" He stopped her from going on and at that moment, the door opened again. Ginny was wondering what was going on. She heard Draco curse beside her. "What's going on now?"
He didn't look at her. "He's going to make you prove yourself to him. Just do as he says and you'll never have to again. He just wants to make sure you're not cheating him." Ginny's lips started to tremble.
"What's he going to make me do?" It turned out Draco didn't have to answer. Voldemort appeared again, a smirk on his pale, bony face and a helpless looking child at his side. The child was bound and it appeared a silencing charm had been used. She couldn't hear anything the little girl was screaming. Oh lady, she thought. I can't do this! She turned to Draco and was about to tell him no when Voldemort spoke.
"Step forward." She knew he was talking to her and she did so feebly. Draco walked with her and she was glad. She didn't care about the stares they were getting or the angry grumbling of Pansy. She needed him there at the moment. "Draco, step aside." Draco didn't answer, but he didn't move. When Voldemort looked ready to curse him, Draco looked up. Ginny couldn't see his face, but she was sure it was stone-like. With no emotion present. She could sense anger was starting inside him and he held his hand tightly around something in his pocket. Voldemort seemed to know what was happening. "You are no match for me boy." She could almost feel Draco's smirk beside her. He still showed no signs of moving and Voldemort became very angry. "Stand aside," he said, a little louder than before.
"I'm either standing here with her or I'm leaving. Take your pick." Voldemort looked taken aback. Draco brought out his wand, not in an attempt to use it, just as something to occupy his hands. Voldemort thought he was challenging him, however, and he knew that although Draco was young, he would win out in the end. Voldemort's strength hadn't been the same since he'd been back and the only thing that people feared him for were the attacks he'd made so many years ago. He smirked in attempt to look more intimidating.
"She does this on her own." Voldemort threw the child down to the floor in front of her. Ginny looked down with sad eyes and realized if she didn't do this, he'd kill her. She looked toward Draco for help, but he shook his head. There wasn't much he could do for her at the moment. She'd volunteered to come. He hadn't made her. She felt tears welling up again.
"What do I have to do?" She whispered, visibly shaking. Voldemort smirked and it sickened her.
"First you'll use the Cruciatus Curse and then you'll use the killing curse. It's a simple task really. Most of my Death Eaters went through much more." Ginny grimaced.
"I'm not becoming a Death Eater," she said quietly, more to herself than anyone else.
"I just need to know your intentions are true as Draco says." He smirked at Draco and she felt him tense up beside her. She nodded a slow nod and reached into her pocket. She almost laughed right there. She'd left her wand at home! She hadn't wanted Draco to end up taking it from her and keeping it.
"I don't have my wand." She tried to keep from looking happy about it and nearly failed. Voldemort smirked, like he thought as much from her.
"Not to worry, Ginevra. I'm sure I've got a copy of it. Remember from your first year in Hogwarts when I borrowed it?" Ginny almost cried. She thought she'd been home free. Memories flooded her mind from when she'd trusted Tom. She'd told him so much about herself. Voldemort knew everything about her. She looked helplessly to the child in front of her. It was a small girl with strawberry blonde hair. She had tears running down her face. Ginny couldn't possibly kill her. What was she going to do? She thought a moment but nothing was coming to her. It was either this girl or her own life. But even as she looked at this girl, who looked nothing like her own, she thought about how it would kill her if someone ever captured and killed her only daughter. She looked up with tears running down her own face.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. She bent down and kissed the girl softly on the forehead. "Please forgive me child." She stood back up and realized the child's tears had stopped and she was instead looking at Ginny with what seemed like respect. Her green eyes shone in the light and Ginny nearly lost it right there. How could this child respect her, knowing what she was about to do. She stood up and turned into Draco's chest. "I don't know if I can do this." She abandoned all care that anyone was around and was relieved when she felt his arms encircle her waist. He put his mouth by her ear so that no one but her could hear what he was about to say.
"Just get through this. I can modify your memory later. You won't even remember it." She shook her head at his suggestion.
"No, I came here and I've got to deal with this." He nodded and they stood there for another whole minute before she let him go. He could hear Pansy somewhere in the room. She was livid. Her breathing and constant grumbling were heard over the otherwise dead silence of the room. Ginny turned around again and looked at Voldemort defiance in her eyes. She looked down at the girl and gave her a small smile. "It'll all be over soon, sweetie," she said to comfort her. Voldemort handed her a wand. He'd actually made a copy of her wand! She glared at him before she took it in her own hands. She backed up to where she was a good four feet away from the girl and aimed her wand. She took a deep breath and noticed she wasn't even shaking. Her breathing, however, was short and rapid. Her heartbeat was quick. She could feel a numbing tingle in her head and she felt dizzy. She was actually going to do this. She started the incantation for the Cruciatus Curse, but before she could finish, she'd been interupted.
"Stop," she heard a voice behind Voldemort say. The person was cloaked in a Death Eater robe, but he was telling her to stop. She recognized the voice, but it seemed so long ago she couldn't remember. The stranger strode into the room and snatched her wand away. He looked at Voldemort and snarled, "She's not becoming a Death Eater, she needs no initiation. You can read her thoughts. You know she's not lying." Voldemort looked shocked. Beside Ginny, Draco chuckled to himself. Ginny was having a hard time finding the situation amusing.
"You've no business being here," Voldemort hissed at him. "I didn't call upon you." The stranger gave a small chuckle.
"Since when did that ever matter? I'm here and I'm taking Weasley with me. She doesn't belong here." Voldemort shook his head.
"I gave her a task. She was just about to complete it, which shows she does belong here." The stranger ignored this and turned around to face Ginny.
"You're coming with me. Let's go." Ginny didn't have time to reply. The stranger grabbed her and started pulling her from the room. Draco followed her and Voldemort just looked after them in shock. No one said a word as Ginny was being pulled out the door, not even Voldemort.
Once they were safely outside, the stranger turned to Ginny. "What the hell were you doing in there?" She didn't answer and he turned to Draco. "What was she doing here?" He didn't say anything either.
"Who are you?" Ginny asked uncertainly. The stranger took down his hood and Ginny gasped. "What am I doing doing here?" She bellowed. "What are you doing here?"
a.n: Sorry for ending the chapter so shortly, but i had to stop it there! sorry about the cliffy too :-/ I love ya'll. Review and lemme know whatcha think.